NEW YORK--New York designer showrooms Rug & Kilim and Vanden Loom have teamed up in an effort to boost sales and reduce operating costs. In fact, the duo is also seeking to grow its partnerships with other U.S. manufacturers and dealers in an effort to leverage resources even more. The two companies, which will retain their individual brand identities, now share a ground floor space at 240 and 250 E. 59th St., down the road from the to-the-trade showroom center at the D&D Building. Rug & Kilim has already been at the present location for several years.

"We just merged and it has been very good so far because the traffic has increased tremendously," says Rug & Kilim founder Josh Nazmiyal, who focuses his efforts on fine carpets. "I think we are covering ourselves with our resources and some of our common expenses and we are getting almost 50 percent more traffic than we used to get individually. It also makes many more items available to the designer who comes to us."

The two companies carry complementary products: Rug & Kilim pursues the antiques and higher-end custom segments, while Vanden Loom, which had operated its own showroom along 59th Street for years as well, carries antique rugs, custom handmade and hand-tufted carpets, broadloom and custom broadloom rugs. Vanden Loom offers a "friendlier" price point, Nazmiyal notes, adding that the company has longstanding partnership with prominent high-end broadloom brands.

"Vanden is a firm that is going to be very today, very current with fast delivery, where Rug & Kilim is much more classic, more detailed," Nazmiyal adds. "So there are some differences in price range, clientele and type of look."

Adds Alfred Etaat, founder of Vanden Loom, "The knowledge that we both have is beyond what most rug dealers have. We both come from second and third generation rug manufacturing and carpet selling families. We have learned from selling antique rugs, from manufacturing rugs, and selling wholesale to many companies across the country. Now we have stronger capabilities to help all the design firms and showrooms in terms of getting the right product."

"We are looking to add two or three other workshops, importers or manufacturers--whatever you may call them into the store.  We are trying to put our energies together in order to serve all of us better," Nazmiyal says. "It is very hard to compete as a small entity and all of us have preferred to remain small. But times are changing and we hope now we are better prepared for what will come in the following years."