Floods spur business to move, expand
About All Floors opens larger showroom at 5 Maplewood Drive in Amity
Sometimes, a bad experience can turn into something good.
About All floors, a Berks County flooring company that has been in business for 13 years, has opened a new showroom at 5 Maplewood Drive in Amity.
According to Tom Heffner, who owns About All Floors with his wife Kelly, the decision to relocate the showroom was made about one day after the business’s original location at 519 W. Benjamin Franklin Highway (Route 422) in Amity suffered its second major flooding in 79 days in November 2018.
“It didn’t take long. We started looking around. I drive by here all the time to get a cup of coffee and never paid notice it had been vacant for so long. We quickly said we have to go look at this building,” he said.
Heffner said the couple closed on the purchase of the building — which is across the street from the Wawa in Amity in January — and quickly got to work doing extensive renovations to both the inside and outside of the 11,000-squarefoot building. That work included tearing out garage doors on part of the building and incorporating the space into the showroom.
About All Floors’ new Amity location has a 6,000-square-foot showroom — double the space in the previous location. It has an additional 5,000 square feet the couple calls its value center, which stocks carpet and vinyl flooring remnants as well as other flooring materials.
Moving into the new space has allowed Heffner to do something he has wanted to do for some time: expand the business to include countertops and cabinetry. That expansion is not something that was possible in the other location.
“Sometimes getting pushed out of your comfort zone is a good thing,” he said.
Only the Amity store has the countertops and cabinetry, but Heffner said that option may expand to the Wyomissing About All Floors store.
Countertops and cabinetry aren’t items a lot of flooring companies in the area offer, according to Heffner. He said he knew the idea had come “full circle” when he was in the store June 30.
“I walked over and there was a couple and they had tile for kitchen floor, backsplash, counter top material and the cabinetry sitting there for their project,” he said. “Being able to do it in one spot and not have to go to three or four different stores — looking at it all together — made me feel like we made the right decision.”
About All Floors features high ceilings and 48 different floor displays set up around the store, so customers can see combinations and walk on them to get a sense of what they might feel like in their home.
“People walk in here and they say it’s very warm and they feel like they are at home,” Kelly Heffner said.
The space also features a Fam Cave, with seating and a TV for family members — child or adult — who have gotten worn out by shopping.
The first flood happened during the day on Aug. 10, 2018, while the second one happened at night on Nov. 2, 2018. Each flood forced the Heffners to close About All Floors for one month while they made repairs, while still operating the Wyomissing About All Floors location.
Tom Heffner said the second flood was worse, with water reaching midway to his knees inside the store.
“We lost a lot,” Kelly Heffner added. “We lost flooring displays, and there was a ton of mud — everything was coated in mud.”
“When something like that happens there is nothing you can do. It’s the most helpless feeling in the world, he said, adding that “it’s probably the closest I’ve ever come to quitting anything.”
The Heffners didn’t quit, instead relocating and expanding their business with a bigger showroom in a visible and easily accessible location.
About All Floors’ Amity location opened June 17, with a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting June 27. Grand opening activities ran through Aug. 5.
For more information visit www.aboutallfloors.com/ or www.facebook.com/AboutAllFloorsBirdsboro/
The company’s original Amity location will be used to store product that is ordered for projects and as a base for estimators and installers, according to Tom Heffner.
About All Floors carries the latest in carpet, hardwood, laminate, tile, luxury vinyl, and waterproof flooring as well as countertops and cabinetry. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. About All Floors’ Wyomissing location is located at 1050 Berkshire Boulevard.
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