Beginning with this month’s National Floor Trends issue, we are changing the way we present industry news.

With new and existing home sales continuing to flounder, the rental market is the flooring industry’s land of opportunity.

It is easy to recognize the two leading attributes (besides price) driving a particular brand/manufacturer of laminate flooring. 

The back-to-school sales continue to start earlier and earlier as retailers try to gain more of the $55 million spent last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

This year’s HGTV Green Home, located in Stapleton (Denver), Colo., combined a LEED Platinum Certified rating from the U.S. Green Building Council with a Frank Lloyd Wright influenced prairie style design.

This month’s issue is chock full of great ideas and products to build and strengthen your top line sales and profitability.

I went to Denver in mid-May to see the 2011 HGTV Green Home and was totally impressed.

Last month’s historic outbreak of tornados in the Midwest and in the South should sound a call for disaster preparedness.

The veil of uncertainty for the hardwood flooring segment partially cleared with the release of the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) preliminary determination on March 22, in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of engineered (multilayer) wood flooring imported from China.

What a difference a year makes along with a rise in consumer sentiment.