Grossly oversimplified as that statement is, it does describe a "composite snapshot" of a typical U.S. wood floor sale based on the results of National Floor Trends' just-released 2002 Hardwood Flooring Market Study. Our poll of flooring retailers across the nation determined that 91 percent of their wood floor sales are for residential installations, and fully 85 percent of the wood floors they sell are factory prefinished rather than finished at the job site.
In addition, 31 percent of participating retailers identified Bruce as their top-selling brand of wood floors -- a margin more than double that of Mannington, which was identified as the best seller by 14 percent of respondents. Other brands mentioned as the top seller in 2002, and the percentage of participants who identified them as such, are as follows: Hartco, 8 percent; Robbins, 6 percent; Harris Tarkett and Mohawk, 5 percent each; Anderson, Columbia and Kahrs, 4 percent each; and 19 percent of retailers mentioned one of 30 other brands.