THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH...

NOVEMBER IS THE MONTH FOR GIVING THANKS.

Many times we are simply too busy or distracted to see all the things around us in our lives that we need to be grateful for, and that applies for individuals as well as organizations.  2013 marks the 25th anniversary of The Carpet Store, and for us a major part of our anniversary celebration will involve giving thanks.  Lots of times a business can make the mistake of assuming that it is their wonderful concept, their snappy advertising or their fearless leaders that bring an organization success, but in reality it is a long, long list of contributors and events that make it happen.

We want to take a moment and give thanks for our 25 wonderful years by thanking 25 people, things and events that helped make that happen.  Please indulge us-

  1. YOU.  We are incredibly grateful for you, our customer.  Throughout the years we have been blessed with a loyal following that has been so happy with the work we've done for them that they have been eager to recommend us to others.  Because of you we don't really have to advertise, and because of you we are very successful still.  We have the best customers in the world...seriously, you rock.
  2. Our founder, J.D. Manning.  By rights this entire blog post should be about J.D.; He was an honest, simple businessman who respected his customers enough to treat them like family.  It was the concepts and the culture that he designed and put in place that helped make the operation a success.  He was both a hard and savvy businessman as well as a delight to be around.  We miss him terribly.
  3. Our Employees.  The running joke around here is that you will need to wait until one of us dies to get a job at the Carpet Store.  Our average length of employment is about a decade and all that experience has been put to good use.  Our people are the best of the best, period.  Thank you to all of our employees and contractors.
  4. Our Vendors.  It would be easy for us to buy closeouts and factory seconds, throw it in a fancy box and call it "Premiere Collection", but that's not how we roll.  We have long standing relationships with pretty much every major flooring manufacturer on the planet.  Shaw, Mohawk, Bliss, Anderson, Columbia, Mannington, Armstrong, Mirage, the list goes on and on.  We believe that buying superior name brand flooring that our customers recognize and are comfortable with is the only way to go.  It is their top notch products that make us look so good, and we are very grateful.
  5. Saint Petersburg, Florida.  Where we started, and the home to our flag ship store.  From Palm Harbor down to Fort DeSoto we love every inch of it!
  6. Tampa Florida.  Same thing.  We totally love Tampa!  Pirates, cigars, The Columbia - what's not to love about this town!
  7. New Port Richey Florida.  The location of our newest store, For The Floor.  We opened at the beginning of the recession and we were still welcomed by this great community with open arms.
  8. The Home Centers.  Seems weird right?  In truth we love the home centers with their high overhead and demanding shareholders, they have been making us look good for years.
  9. Keep Saint Pete Local.  Both a statement and an organization that got behind that statement, in a big way.  We have always been a locally owned and operated family company - Olga Boff and her merry crew of Local promoters have created a vibrant community of locally owned businesses in the Saint Pete Area.  Whether it's networking or hosting city-wide events, KSPL is a major part of why Saint Petersburg is vibrant and full of personality.
  10. Home Improvement Row.  Much like KSPL, Home Improvement Row is a consortium of local businesses, but this time all based on 22nd ave N, and all focused on Home Improvement.  All together HIR can cover whatever you might need for your home, and you can rest assured that your money will stay local, which is huge.  We love our HIR partners and look forward to many more years of business together.
  11. Pets.  We sell new flooring for a living, of course we love pets.  Puppies are the greatest! We are soooo grateful for Pets!
  12. Snowbirds.  We have always had such a great relationship with our northerners, and we are so grateful for all the help you give our economy.  Canada?  We love you guys too, oh, and please forgive us for making fun of your money all those years back - now yours is worth more than ours haha LOL!  we suck.
  13. The Internet.  It's not just for cat videos anymore (although who doesn't love a good cat video!)  - If you're reading this then you are on the internet, and how great is that.  If you have shopped for flooring recently you likely have shopped around the internet and hopefully we came up in your search.  Why?  Because our awesome customers said nice things about us and we are so grateful for them, and for your ability to see what they wrote.
  14. Florida Decor.  This is kind of a weird thing to be thankful for, but boy are we.  You see by being local (see#9&10) we know local tastes and decor preferences and we buy our flooring to suit it best.  Our national chain competitors think that the stuff they sell in Chicago will sell equally well down here (see#8), and I suppose we are grateful for that too.
  15. The Florida Lifestyle.  Okay this one speaks for itself, who isnt grateful for our wonderfully weird and laid back lifestyle?  We love living here!
  16. The Beaches.  Can't be thankful for a lifestyle and not be thankful for one of the main ingredients.  People from all over the world save for years so they can fly here and spend thousands on what they consider the vacation of a lifetime.  For us to have the same experience we just need to fill up a cooler, grab a chair and drive a few miles west.
  17. The Climate. Yeah, it gets hot here for a month or two, but we will take Florida's stupid hot over The cold any day of the week.
  18. Our Military. This is a military town and we love our armed forces.  Not only do they willingly risk their own lives to protect us overseas, they come home to Tampa Bay to raise their families and are one of the greatest assets we have.  To All the armed forces members active or vet, we humbly say Thank you.
  19. Our Teachers. In our book teachers are as much heros as our vets.  Thank you for teaching our children, we are so very grateful.
  20. Mazzaros.  Kind of weird to be expressing gratitude for an Italian Deli that is across the street from us, but if you have ever had their Pannini of the day you would totally be asking why they arent higher up on the list.
  21. Our local Sorts teams.  Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and of course the Rays (tanks guys for putting up with us).  We love you guys win or lose.  
  22. Florida Wildlife.  Sure, there are a huge number of creatures wandering around Florida that would be more than happy to bite or eat us, but there is an equal amount of awesome critters that we love.  Ever catch a Tarpon?  And Manatees? Stop, they are the best!
  23. Florida Fauna.  If you have ever been up north in the winter and everything is dead and grey then you totally understand why we are so grateful to be able to see a blooming hibiscus in February.
  24. Southern hospitality.  We don't care what you say, southern people are more gracious, giving, and polite than anywhere else.  Thanks for that
  25. -------------------------------. We're going to leave #25 purposely blank.  We would love for you to share what it is that you are grateful for in the comment section over to the right;  we are so grateful in fact that you actually read this whole post all the way through that we are going to select the best comment below and give them three tickets to a Lightning game in some really great seats, and we might give you a little beer money to boot.   Thanks!!