Merchandising 2001 winner buffs upscale image Bethlehem Gallery of Floors puts accent on elegance, comfort, beauty By Julie Goodman Bethlehem, Pa. - An interesting, beautiful showroom marketed toward the high-end consumer has been one of the integral elements of Bethlehem Gallery of Floors ever since Robert and JoAnne Young acquired it in 1982. Their hard work and dedications recently returned some dividends when the new, expanded location earned a Floor Covering Weekly Merchandising 2001 Award for best Full Line Retail Store Flooring Showroom. "Today it is so easy for the cream to rise to the top in our business," Robert Young said. "I'm not as interested in the product as much as in the way that I package it. Like most retailers, I travel around the country, look at my peers and see which ones are extremely successful. Part of the reason for their success is the way they merchandise." Serving the Lehigh Valley tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, the Young's took a long, hard look at their marketing agenda, which prompted a move from the downtown site the store had occupied since its founding in 1945 to a more spacious location with greater exposure in a busier part of town. "We were being inundated by the big box stores- the Home Depots, the Hechingers, the do-it-yourself, lowball operations," Young said. "It is very hard to compete with them. You can't compete on price; you have to distance yourself. We never run a price ad- it's always just image, image, image." The new Bethlehem Gallery of Floors is designed to set itself head and shoulders above the big box mentality. According to Young, the objective was to create a shopping environment that would entice the customer to venture further into a store upon entering. "It is designed to avoid visual distractions with departments that allow one to move about unencumbered by sample binders and poorly arranged displays," he said. Much thought was put into the layout and flow, and customers have responded by lingering longer to shop the entire store. There is a children's play area visible from anywhere in the store to allow parents to shop with ease. Product merchandising is "massaged and embellished," Young said, and the owners use props to enliven store displays. "We don't just put a rack in our store; we use vignettes, stuffed animals, flowers, trees. Whenever we travel we bring things back to use as props in the store." One recent purchase, a huge wooden bear, is irresistible, drawing petting and hugs from young and old. "How we appear when a customer walks into the store is very important to us," Young said. The store is bright and airy with huge glass windows. The atmosphere is formal; sales personnel are attired in suit and tie. And the level of personal attention is virtually unsurpassed; Young strongly believes no large-scale operation can duplicate his customer service. His carefully chosen sales force; led by 25-year veteran Larry Csaszar, is made up of well-mannered, loyal, stable, representatives who share the store's high standards and values. "If someone has a problem here, they know where to come: right to my desk," Young said. "I take pride in making them happy." That can cost the Young's big bucks, but he maintains it is more than worth the money. "I have had to replace goods, buy the customers dinner, send them on vacations, send out a cleaning crew, whatever it takes. And it makes a hero out of us every single time." Young is not interested in expanding to more stores; instead he is focused on maintaining control of his business without losing his personal commitment to service. He seems confident that no one in his area can compete with his store at its level. When the first Shaw Carpet Showplace opened in Pittsburgh last year, the Young's made the trip to check it out, and they liked what they found. "The minute we entered, we breathed a great sigh of relief; we saw there was no way he could compete with us," he said. "He's just too big to have the control you must have in our industry to satisfy the customer." Young gives credit to Shaw for some useful innovations that he is putting into practice at Bethlehem Gallery of Floors, such as the new credit program and square-foot pricing. "You have to adapt to the times," he said. Customer response to the new store has exceeded the Young's expectations; residential business is up 100 percent since the move. "Our business doubled because when the big box stores moved into the area, so many of the independents just shut down; they gave up," Young said. "I thought, 'Wow; this is an opportunity for us, a full-service retailer, to shine.'"