Color Tile to Expand

Kennesaw, GA, Dec. 27–CarpetsPlus plans to expand its recently acquired Color Tile brand to 450 stores by the end of 2003.

CarpetsPlus purchased Color Tile from Jim Gould, chairman of flooring distributor Misco-Shawnee in May. The flooring group currently has 310 dealers operating under the CarpetsPlus banner, 36 under the Carpet Land banner and 78 Color Tile stores. Each store will carry a mix of hard and soft surfaces, and new stores who sign on with the co-op will become CarpetsPlus/Color Tile stores.

The group has planned an advertising campaign for next year, which includes inserts into newspapers, private sale offerings four times a year, monthly in-store promotions, direct mail and ads on television and radio.

The group currently has total annual sales of $780 million, and it plans to add $150 million to $170 million in sales next year, with 70% of those additional sales coming from the expansion of the Color Tile brand.