As a retailer or hardwood flooring consumer, have you ever thought about the impact domestic wood manufacturers have—not only in the flooring world we all live in, but on the economy as a whole? Do you think about how buying decisions and sales you make every day impact all those financial numbers we read about in The Wall Street Journal—or hear about on the nightly news?
While it is difficult to get exact numbers, industry estimates put wood flooring manufacturing sales between $2 billion (more recently) to $2.7 billion at its high in 2005. Whatever the exact number, it’s significant—yet the number takes into account only the sales dollars that manufacturers generate.