Staff Report
Gainesville Daily Register
Gainesville —
Stevens Floor Coverings owner Gary Endres said his product stock continues to improve, and this is to the customer’s advantage.
Endres, who has owned the company at 2626 E. Highway 82 in Gainesville since 1989, said his carpets have typically been of the nylon and polyester varieties. But his latest line of “SmartStrand” carpets are derived from triexta, DuPont’s recent high-performance polymer innovation, and they outperform everything else he sells.
Aside from being durable and highly stain-resistant, SmartStrand flooring offers the customer a level of softness unmatched by possibly any other carpet manufactured.
“These are the softest ones that I’ve ever seen, and they’re even better than what they used to be,” Endres said.
Endres said SmartStrand was released in 1999, and DuPont had most recently updated the quality of the fiber in 2005.
“Now they did it again,” he said. “It shows, to me, that they don’t just rest on their laurels. They make it better, in time and through research.”
During a recent family reunion, Endres said, some of the small children went playing in the rain and returned indoors wet and covered in dirt. He said they walked all over his carpet filthy from the weather — and yet the stains had no lasting effect on the SmartStrand flooring.
“It really cleans up,” he said.
Endres took ownership of the company after it had already enjoyed a local history spanning back to 1948 and the efforts of founder Harold Stevens. Aside from selling carpet in a broad range of textures and colors through the current Highway 82 facility, Stevens Floor Covering also rents carpet cleaning machines and floor design consultation. Endres is focused on customer service and visits customer homes himself for floor measurement and quality assessment, and he has flooring installation available. And although carpet is the primary product seen in the Stevens showroom, Endres also sells varieties of hardwood, ceramic tile and vinyl flooring manufactured by Mohawk Color Center.
For more information, call (940) 665-0318 or visit www.stevensfloorcoverings.com.
