EIGHT RUG COMPANIES UNVEIL
NEW LAS VEGAS SHOWROOMS

Kas ribbon cutting in new B-570 showroom Monday morning as the Las Vegas World Market Center. Jeff Ryan, left, tenant improvements manager and Sheri Makransky, leasing manager for World Market Center help the Kas folks cut the ribbon on the sparking new showroom, from left, it's Raja Tummala, Wendy Reiss, Hari Tummala and Brandon Culpepper. Hiding a bit from our camera are Jim Ford and Vee Curfman of Kas. Sorry guys!

By Lissa Wyman

LAS VEGAS -- The opening of eight new rug showrooms at the Las Vegas World Market Center brought a new direction for the rug business in Las Vegas. With the move, the rug business is primarily centered on the third, fourth and fifth floors of Building B, with some major rug companies also located in the Design Center floors of  Building A and C.

Mark Ferullo, vice president of Rizzy Rug & Home, welcomes Jodi Visser to the company's new showroom which incorporates all the company's product categories. Visser is from Furniture Row in Denver.


Karastan's spacious and gracious new showroom is on the third floor Design Center of Building C. Steve Roan, left, vice president of Karastan Rugs and David Moyer of the Mohawk Home area rug department were on hand to meet and greet customers. In a bit of intra-corporate cross merchandising, the hard surface flooring in the showroom comes from Dal-Tile, a Mohawk Industries' sister division. Dal Tile also has a showroom in the Las Vegas area.

Shaw Living's  new fifth floor building B showroom was a warm and friendly place for market shoppers. This group from Classic Accessories & Christmas in Houston was among the opening-day visitiors. From left: Tiffany Rand and Stephen Michaelsky from Classic; Shaw's Guy Gazzilli; Tommie Henderson from Classic and Jim Curtin, vice president of sales for Shaw Living.

 Shaw Living celebrated its new showroom with the sweet art of tiny cupcakes. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. They tasted even better than they looked!

Hard work and plenty of family talent is the formula for success for  Chandra Rugs. All three Tiwari brothers are now active in the business. Here they are with proud dad Chandra, from left: Saket Tiwari, 18; Shashi Tiwari, 25; Pop Chandra, and big brother Ravi Tiwari, 27. There are also three sisters back home in Adairsville.

Dynamic Rugs has moved into a new bright and light showroom on the fifth floor of Building B. Matthew Rouhanian, center, president of Dynamic, shows the line to Marcela Helms, left, and Rhonda Decker of Eagle Builders, Waxhaw, NC.

The new Colonial Mills showroom features a white-washed country cottage look that is a perfect foil for CMI's classic American flat braids which have been imaginatively updated to reflect modern design trends. Don Scarlatta, left, CMI president, and Roy Evans, vice president of sales pose for the Rugnews.com camera. Meredith Thayer,  product development manager and Scarlatta's daughter, is responsible for the fresh new vision at Colonial.

At Central Oriental's new third floor Building B showroom: Johan Vandenberghe of the Belgian mill Tessimmo with Jim Thompson, vice president of sales and marketing.

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We haven't seen the folks from Floors, Inc. for a long time. We caught up on all the news (all good!) at the Sphinx by Oriental Weavers showroom. From left: Steve Truman of Sphinx; Brenda Moerschell, rug buyer for Floors, Inc.; Mike Riley, president of Oriental Weavers USA, and Fred Butts, president of Floors, Inc. Carpet One, headquartered in Southdale, TX.Despite the economy, business is on the upswing at Floors, Inc.

What a nice surprise to run into Jack Freed, right, buyer for American Home Furniture, Albuquerque. We're in Karastan's new Building C Design Center showroom. From left: Steve Roan, vice president of Karastan Rugs; Lissa Wyman, editor and publisher of Rugnews.com; Bud Wyman, industry geezer in chief, and Freed.

Ali Momeni, senior vp os Momeni is a regular babe magnet. He's getting nice and cozy with Janee Ries, left VP of home, luggage and beauty, and Sofia Anscher, assistant buyer of home for Ideeli, New York. Enjoying the scene are Paul Ochab, senior home buyer for Ideeli and Stephen Hoberman, newly named national sales manager for Momeni. (To see the story of Hoberman's appointment, click here)

At Harounian Rugs International, from left: HRI principal Lee Harounian, Greg Jordt, executive vice president, and David Harounian, principal of HRI.

At Jaunty, from left: Sales agent Larry Haines; Kelli Carey and Chad Carey, Carey's Furniture, Cherokee, IA, and Kami Navid, president of Jaunty.

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Wayne Bentley, center, rug buyer for Jordan's Furniture in the Boston area, was making his first trip to the Las Vegas Market. Here he is with Reza Momeni, left, president of Momeni, and Kipp Livingston, president of sales agency Concord Imports. Bentley told us he came to get an overview of color and design trends for teh total home fashions picture. "Everything is definitely brighter and more colorful," he observed.

Ron Couri, left, ceo of Couristan, and Amy Chato Conlon, right, Couristn's product development and design director, flank Carolyn Walsh, buyer, and Debbie Devita, vp and brand manager for Rue LaLa, Boston.

John Feizy, left, founder and president of Feizy Rugs, with Victor Khalafi of the Gabberts/Hom group, based in Minneapolis.

At Kaleen, from left: Joe Barkley, Kaleen executive vice president; Kimberly Stits of California Color Design, Encinitas, CA; Kaleen rep Tina Ellis, and Grey Christie, national accounts manager and West Coast sales manager for Kaleen.

Kathy Leffler, seated right, pow-wows with Safavieh
 bigs Jonathon Yaraghi, seated left, and Darius and
Arash Yaraghi, standing. Leffler is president of Buy
Now Or Never.com, St. Louis. Safavieh is unique
because the company offers a broad selection
of furniture as well as rugs.

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Dale Sweary, left, newly named vice president of sales for Feizy, greets Michelle Thompson, rug buyers, and Bruce Odette, president of Carpet Exchange, the Denver-based floor covering chain. To read the story of Sweary's appointment, click here

Josh Roberts, center, vice president of sales and marketing for Jaipur with Jackie Schwartz, left, Home Interior Warehouse, Walled Lake, MI, and Jaipur rep Susan Whitworth.

At Capel, from left: Tami Watras, vice president of product development and creative director of Capel; Cameron Capel, vice president of national accounts at Capel, Angela Seeley and Mary Hanson of Gardner Mill, West Jordan, UT, and Allen Robertsen, vice president of sales for Capel.

At Surya, from left, Jim Govola, Surya sales representative; Judy Bynum, Surya sales representative, Kurt von de Bur, Surya vp of national accounts, and Erin Hunsinger, lead designer for Studio E Design Group, Castle Rock, CO. See what we mean about colorful?

A-w-w-w-w-w. Now we're getting down to the cute stuff. Sue Bickerdyke, left, of Sue Bickerdyke Interiors, Carefree, AZ, shares a smilewith Liora Manne, lead designer of Trans-Ocean Imports. Liora tells us that Trans-Ocean and Liora Manne/Lamontage will be moving in January to the second floor design center in Building A.

At Loloi: Keith Arlinghaus, left, northeast sales manager for Loloi Rugs, and Amir Loloi, right, president and founder of Loloi, welcome DAve Savula, executive vice president of leasing for AmericasMart, and Kevin Malkiewicz, executive directo ro leasing for trade shows and home at AmericasMart.

Lissa Wyman, center, editor and publisher of Rugnews.com, can't help grinning like a fool as she's surrounded by Jonathan  Peykar, left, who heads Nourison's hospitality division, and Alex Peykar, right, a company principal. We asked Jonathan and Alex to stand on step stools so they wouldn't feel so short standing next to me.

See ya next time!

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