Anchorage, Alaska—Against a panorama of icy fjords and northern lights, 38 of the top flooring retailers in North America gathered here Sept. 14-17 for the National Floorcovering’s Alliance (NFA) fall meeting, where members and their supplier partners took part in three days of business and pleasure.
The ultimate goal is to build camaraderie and develop programs that continue to position NFA members ahead of their competition. A number of initiatives were discussed, among them a pilot program from Dal-Tile designed to facilitate entrée into the countertop business for NFA members. “It’s basically a turnkey solution to remove the fabrication and installation complexity from the process,” said Ian Newton, NFA president and general manager of Flooring 101 in California. “Dal-Tile can set the dealers up with a fabricator because they already have those relationships through their network. Now they can bring it to the independent retailer.”
Patrick Warren, vice president of residential sales at Dal-Tile, put the program—details of which are still pending—in perspective. “It’s a way for us to offer an opportunity for NFA members to embrace the fast-growing countertop business through Dal-Tile’s 32 slab yards and 300 locations nationwide,” he said. “We will make it as easy as possible. For us to continue to grow together we have to help members get into additional spaces, and for those who are not in countertops this will help them earn that space within the project for the consumer. The program we’re offering affords them a turn-key operation. It will change the game.”
Only a handful of NFA members are currently involved in countertops, but Newton said the majority are very interested in this program because of the fabrication solution. “That was always the roadblock,” he said. “Members did not have that relationship with a fabricator who could service them.”
Members with whom FCNews spoke seemed to embrace the initiative, among whom was Jim Jensen, president of Fashion Carpets/Carpet Mill Outlets in Denver, who has successfully been selling countertops for five years. “They incorporated a start-to-finish encapsulation of the entire process—estimating software, fabrication. Taking care of the labor is a big factor. We have just recently organized our own processes. That requires a lot of management and if Dal-Tile does a good job, I will be looking closely at it.”
Another initiative discussed at the member meeting was the prospect of grabbing a bigger piece of the “pro” business—also known as “to the trade”—a category dominated by the behemoths like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Floor & Décor. “I think that’s going to be a battleground segment going forward for independent retailers,” Newton said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for NFA members who inventory product and/or dominant in their market to get in on that business.”
The target customer here is that residential contractor who is seeking the service he won’t necessarily get at the big boxes. “An NFA member can offer that follow up, the installation part, the service, the one person they can deal with who can come out and measure on the spot and supply a quick turnaround.”
A third initiative planned for 2026 is a working relationship with the Fuse Commercial Flooring Alliance that capitalizes on the rebates that group receives on commercial products purchased through its network. “It’s an opportunity for our members to partner with a commercial entity that operates very similar to the NFA,” Newton said. “This independent commercial flooring contractor group are member centric. They concentrate on education. They’re very transparent on their rebates.”
Newton said the partnership could expand depending upon how the relationship develops. “There could be many benefits for members,” he said, citing education/training as one. “This came out of our spring meeting where members expressed a need for more education on the commercial side. The board decided the best route to take would be to develop a relationship with an entity that’s already done the work.”
In other NFA news:
- Business in 2025 is a mixed bag. Newton said a few members are down, but about 80% are about even or up slightly year to date. Most admit to seeing a slowdown [from the start of summer] up through Labor Day, but many have seen an uptick since. For the most part, almost every member was cautiously optimistic about the rest of the year.
- Going forward, Newton said he believes there’s still a pent-up demand for flooring. “I think once the interest rates come down and the housing market starts moving a little, we’re going to see a lot more momentum. There are a lot of indicators out there that show people have money. The stock market’s still strong. Real estate holdings remain strong. And the people with money are still buying.”
- For the most part, the people who are coming into stores are spending more money, buying better goods. “We’re seeing less traffic in the stores but greater margins,” Newton said. “And that’s been a trend for the last couple of years.”
- Biggest challenge for NFA members right now? Finding good people, mostly on the sales floor and on the installation side. “Installation is a huge challenge for the industry right now,” Newton said. The solution? “You have to take care of your people. They have to be well compensated. I think we pay more on the installation side than our competitors. And we take care of them. Treat them like family.”
- Tariffs have not had much of an impact on NFA members’ businesses. Why? “For the most part, the average consumer doesn’t know the cost of flooring,” Newton said. “They haven’t purchased it in the last five or 10 years, so they don’t know exactly what the cost should be. All they can see is the bottom line on a purchase. And if they like the product, they like the service and who they’re buying it from, I think a small tariff increase is not going to make that much difference. An 8% increase on the cost of goods would probably increase the whole ticket 4%-5% because installation’s a big part of it.”
- While price hikes have been announced, the NFA always gets some sort of concession on timing, like a 30- or 60-day extension. “That’s one of the big benefits of being an NFA member,” Newton said. “It allows the NFA member to make a huge purchase on inventory or gives them some more time to adjust their price points.”
The supplier side
Vendor relationships are an integral piece to the NFA value proposition, and Newton cited a few that have stepped up for the group in a big way this year, and those included Cali, Stanton, Mannington, Karndean and IFC. “Cali has always seen the NFA as a great group of retailers to partner with, and it’s been a very successful relationship,” he said. “Our net business is always growing, even in the soft market. They’ve always been quick to partner with us on pallet buys and inventory opportunities.”
Doug Jackson, CEO of Cali, agreed. “We are the right people with the right products doing the right things,” he said. “We have a good reputation and have great products that focus on good/better/best. We stay focused on limited distribution and try to make sure we are servicing the customers the right way.”
Stanton became a core vendor to the NFA about five years ago. “We are offering differentiated products at fair pricing, which is why the NFA has gotten behind Stanton,” said Jonathan Cohen, CEO of Stanton. “We offer good service in the field and inventory support, so it’s been a great trajectory for us with the NFA.”
Mitch White, vice president of key accounts and promotional sales, agreed. “We have won the NFA roll buy for the last three years in our category, and many dealers have been able to get great value and bring in inventory to drive not only those sales but sales of our other products. It’s a bigger commitment from them to do more business with us because we’re coming with beautiful, decorative products at the right price points.”
Revolution Mills, a specialty vendor that was invited to occupy the flex table at this meeting, has been gaining ground with the group, according to Tom Pappas, vice president of sales. “We added seven new members at the last meeting,” he said. “That helped us a lot. I always say good things about the NFA. They’re filled with integrity and always give you a fair shot.”
Flooring 101 is Revolution’s biggest customer. “Their products sell in a marketplace,” Newton said. “They are very competitive on the pricing. The quality and service have been really good. We have had no issues. And they have limited distribution, which is huge. That gives us a competitive advantage.”
Pappas claims Revolution’s quality is second to none. “The installers love our backing, which is almost 100% latex. And our finishes are either 1/8 or 1/10 gauge, and there are six turns. We don’t screw with three and a half, four turns.”
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