(March 10, 2016) Sea Floor in Ocean Pines is the latest venture from industry veteran Don Robertson. If all goes well, it will also be his last.
The shop, located at 11312 Manklin Creek Road in the Manklin Station Shopping Center, opened in mid-February.
“I’ve been in the business for over 25 years,” Robertson said. “I started in Pennsylvania with the Color Tile corporation. When I moved down here to the beach, 19 years ago, I was working for Mohawk Industries. I was the territory manager for all the stores, selling all the carpet to them.”
After starting in retail, Robertson was able to work in nearly all facets of the carpet business, including wholesale and manufacturing. When he grew tired of “driving 50,000 miles a year,” he took a year off, and then went back into retail, working for two other local carpet companies.
It was then that Robertson decided it was time to open his own business.
“Although the other companies are very good, I think there are certain things that they could have done better – or should be done better – and I found that the only way for me to be able to change the mindset was to do it through my mindset in my own store,” he said.
At the top of Robertson’s list was creating a personal relationship with his customers, starting with a warm greeting at the door, rather than a sales pitch.
“We like to make our customers feel at home,” he said. “We don’t like to jump at them, we don’t like to do high-pressure, we don’t like to do false advertising. We like to make a very honest statement.”
Next, Robertson said he found the best installer for his products.
“When I got out of working for Mohawk and started back into retail, I basically fired more of the local installers around here than I would even care to name,” he said. “The work ethic of a lot of people, although not necessarily bad, was not up to what I wanted to represent.
“I found a company that I hooked up with about five years ago that does exceptional work,” Robertson continued. “Complaints went from 15 percent of the jobs to none. With the working relationship that we have with this team, they followed me through all the locations, and they’re also with me here. It’s a very specialized group.”
Inside the store, Robertson says he is focused exclusively on the retail market. By basing operations in Ocean Pines, rather than Ocean City, the shop was able to drastically lower overhead costs and pass the savings onto consumers.
“I’m not claiming that I’m the cheapest guy in town, and I don’t want to be,” Robertson said. “If you’re the cheapest guy in town, you get the cheapest work and the cheapest material. I wanted to be fair, have great quality and do great work for the people.”
Ultimately, Robertson said his goal is for the store to be his “swansong.”
“I’m 56 years old. I’ll probably work until I’m about 70. If I had my dream, I would keep things nice and small and build the business out a little bit more as we go,” he said.
“I’ve got a stream of customers that I’ve been working with for the last five years that are following me, along with a couple builders, a couple of rental agencies and a couple of disaster cleanup companies that I’ve worked for that really like what I present. What I need now is the retail market.”
This month, Sea Floor is offering sale prices on flooring from Tuftex, Dream Weaver, Beaulieu, Carolina Home and Mohawk, as well as carpeting by Dixie Home. Customers can also save 10 percent on hardwood materials from LM, Triangulo, Armstrong and Harris Woods.
For more information, call 410-208-3879 or visit www.seafloorcarpets.com.
The shop, located at 11312 Manklin Creek Road in the Manklin Station Shopping Center, opened in mid-February.
“I’ve been in the business for over 25 years,” Robertson said. “I started in Pennsylvania with the Color Tile corporation. When I moved down here to the beach, 19 years ago, I was working for Mohawk Industries. I was the territory manager for all the stores, selling all the carpet to them.”
After starting in retail, Robertson was able to work in nearly all facets of the carpet business, including wholesale and manufacturing. When he grew tired of “driving 50,000 miles a year,” he took a year off, and then went back into retail, working for two other local carpet companies.
It was then that Robertson decided it was time to open his own business.
“Although the other companies are very good, I think there are certain things that they could have done better – or should be done better – and I found that the only way for me to be able to change the mindset was to do it through my mindset in my own store,” he said.
At the top of Robertson’s list was creating a personal relationship with his customers, starting with a warm greeting at the door, rather than a sales pitch.
“We like to make our customers feel at home,” he said. “We don’t like to jump at them, we don’t like to do high-pressure, we don’t like to do false advertising. We like to make a very honest statement.”
Next, Robertson said he found the best installer for his products.
“When I got out of working for Mohawk and started back into retail, I basically fired more of the local installers around here than I would even care to name,” he said. “The work ethic of a lot of people, although not necessarily bad, was not up to what I wanted to represent.
“I found a company that I hooked up with about five years ago that does exceptional work,” Robertson continued. “Complaints went from 15 percent of the jobs to none. With the working relationship that we have with this team, they followed me through all the locations, and they’re also with me here. It’s a very specialized group.”
Inside the store, Robertson says he is focused exclusively on the retail market. By basing operations in Ocean Pines, rather than Ocean City, the shop was able to drastically lower overhead costs and pass the savings onto consumers.
“I’m not claiming that I’m the cheapest guy in town, and I don’t want to be,” Robertson said. “If you’re the cheapest guy in town, you get the cheapest work and the cheapest material. I wanted to be fair, have great quality and do great work for the people.”
Ultimately, Robertson said his goal is for the store to be his “swansong.”
“I’m 56 years old. I’ll probably work until I’m about 70. If I had my dream, I would keep things nice and small and build the business out a little bit more as we go,” he said.
“I’ve got a stream of customers that I’ve been working with for the last five years that are following me, along with a couple builders, a couple of rental agencies and a couple of disaster cleanup companies that I’ve worked for that really like what I present. What I need now is the retail market.”
This month, Sea Floor is offering sale prices on flooring from Tuftex, Dream Weaver, Beaulieu, Carolina Home and Mohawk, as well as carpeting by Dixie Home. Customers can also save 10 percent on hardwood materials from LM, Triangulo, Armstrong and Harris Woods.
For more information, call 410-208-3879 or visit www.seafloorcarpets.com.