Don’t be fooled—not everyone is doing everything online these days. The Main Street flooring business is coming back in a big way. 

“The perception that ‘new is clean and clean is safe’ is driving additional opportunities,” said Kurt Paulson, vice president of Main Street Commercial and Floorigami, Shaw Floors. “As society continues to move back into those pre-COVID work and educational spaces, new flooring will be one of the categories on an environment's refresh list.”

In fact, Shaw is so bullish about current Main Street business opportunities that the company gave special emphasis in SFN virtual event at the end of July. The company planned business leader perspectives and peer-to-peer networking, with ideas and best practices on how retailers can make it the main thing for the remainder of 2021 and beyond and grow this aspect of their business using solutions from Philadelphia Commercial and 5th & Main.

Easy-to-maintain hard surfaces, like rigid core and LVT products, remain in high demand. 

New tongue-and-groove SPC platforms, like Shaw’s domestically manufactured Purview SPC present an innovative opportunity to elevate design and performance in applications subject to heavy rolling loads. 

Carpet tiles are continuing their growth in popularity as an alternative to broadloom, offering installation and design versatility as well as simple care and maintenance and plank replacement.

“Versatility and simplicity are key trends in a post-pandemic world,” Paulson said. “Simplicity refers to installation, plank replacement (of both carpet tiles and resilient) and care and maintenance, while versatility means design freedom. Shaw’s main street solutions allow customers to mix and match styles and experiment with installation patterns to create a unique look, even transitioning between hard and soft surface styles for zoning and wayfinding.”

Today’s main street customers demand high-style and low-maintenance, and our Philadelphia Commercial brand promises just that: flooring without compromise.