News Story
WINCHESTER — The Floor Shop is marking its 60th anniversary this year and laying out the red carpet for customers, according to new owners Greg and DeeDee Ricketts. The shop, at 173 N. Loudoun St. on the Loudoun Street Mall, was established by the Pullen family.
About three years ago, the Rickettses bought it from Robert “Bob” Pullen Jr., whose parents, Robert Sr. and Velma, opened the store in 1956.
Pullen stayed on with the couple as a salesman until last fall. He owned the store for 45 years, since he was 21 years old.
“Even though it was a family business, you reach a certain age where you need new blood in the business, and I think that was a good time to leave,” Pullen said. “I think [the Rickettses] will be very good.”
The store is an Abbey Carpet & Floor showroom and sells carpeting, hardwood, vinyl, ceramic, tile and laminate vinyl planks.
Greg’s late father, Roy, installed flooring and carpets for the Pullens for more than 40 years, according to DeeDee, and Greg started working for them when he was a teenager.
“I installed here for 26 years,” Greg, 42, said. “I started when I was in school and worked evenings and weekends, in the summertime when I wasn’t in school. When I got out of school, I worked full time. I thought I would be installing the rest of my life like my dad did.”
But opportunity struck.
“Bob wanted to retire, and we wanted to go in business for ourselves, and it was a no-brainer because I had been here all my life and knew most of the clientele,” Greg said. “Bob helped us out a lot.”
DeeDee said Pullen still owns the building.
Greg said he and DeeDee, 43, have tried to improve the customer experience. “We’ve tried to make it more personal and show our customers that we care and we’re there to help them,” DeeDee said. “All of our people are trained, they’re experienced; they all have that design eye.”
She said they will design the look from “top to bottom” for clients.
Greg said their customers are about evenly split between residential and commercial. “A lot of people are doing kitchens and bathrooms right now,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of basement finishing. New homes are picking up right now. It’s going to be big this summer. The past two winters have been really good.”
The Floor Shop has a 6,500-square-foot showroom, and a basement and two upper floors that serve as warehouse space. It also has a warehouse on Shawnee Drive called Flooring Wholesalers.
The couple’s son, Andrew, 16, also helps at The Floor Shop. “When he leaves [Millbrook High] School, he comes directly here and he works for three hours a day,” DeeDee said.
The couple have 22 employees.
What’s popular in flooring goes in phases, according to Greg. “Right now, ceramic and hardwood’s really popular,” he said. “Vinyl planks are getting more popular. Luxury vinyl planks look like hardwood or tile.
“It’s less expensive than a regular hardwood,” DeeDee said. “It’s durable. We sell a lot of it.”