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From the earliest days, Ruggieri Brothers of Cranston, R.I., was a hometown, family business.

Today more than ever it is vital for retailers to create a pleasant and unique shopping experience for consumers.

In the early 1960s, I opened a small flooring store in New York.

This issue marks 20 years since I started writing for the flooring industry trade journals back in 1995.

Nearly 15 years ago a number of industry players—manufacturers, distributors, retailers, contractors, software providers and others—got together and decided to start the process of bringing the industry’s technology into the 21st century.

OK, so 2014 wasn’t as fantastic a year as most hoped. That doesn’t mean it was a bad year.

Almost every residential installer has heard the phrase uttered from a surprised customer at five minutes after five o’clock, something like “That is not what I picked,” or “My floor doesn’t look anything like the sample board.”

When it comes to behind the scenes we believe the part of the project you don’t see is what really makes a difference.

It seems like not so long ago, I remember being a much younger sales advisor at a retail floor covering store in Southern California.

The consumer of today is a totally different animal than the customer of five to 10 years ago.