A local family with more than 50 years’ combined experience in the flooring trade has given its business profile a boost with a move to a new showroom at 611 Whangaparāoa Road.
City Carpets was previously in Karepiro Drive, but when a site on the main road came up late last year, business founder Dexter Richardson, together with daughter Shalome and her husband Michael, snapped up the more prominent site.
As well as displays and samples from leading global manufacturers, the shop carries a good range of offcuts and end of lines in store, meaning there are always bargains to be had.
“One of our niche things is that we’ll buy clearance lines, which means we can pass on huge discounts on our stocks of vinyl, carpets and laminated vinyl planks,” Dexter says. “A lot of carpet shops don’t carry the stock we have these days.”
Another strength is City Carpets’ mobile service, where they visit homes and businesses for free consultations, even if that means working after hours and at weekends.
“We’re happy to travel anywhere in the Auckland and Rodney region,” Dexter says. “We’re a service business, so we’re up for that and oblige by doing whatever we have to do to make it work for people.”
Dexter has been selling and installing all types of domestic and commercial flooring in the Stanmore Bay area for 30 years, while Shalome and Michael have been running the showroom for six years. The family also owns the Flooring First branch in Warkworth. Dexter says the biggest change he’s seen is a huge improvement in the quality and performance of artificial carpets, which has led to a move away from wool.
City Carpets has recently entered into a partnership with Sleepyhead to use its New Zealand-made underlay instead of imported to support local manufacturing.
