First Look: Floor & Decor opens first NYC store
Floor & Decor is putting down roots in New York City in a big way.
The specialty hard-surface flooring retailer will open the doors to its first-ever store in New York City, a flagship in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, on May 6. The 129,000 sq. ft. store takes over the second floor of Liberty Bklyn, a 1.3 million sq. ft. mixed-use facility, replacing space previously occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond, Buy Buy Baby and World Market.
Featuring a warehouse-style format, the new Floor & Décor carries merchandise that caters to the neighborhood’s trends and culture. Inventory consists of a vast selection of wood, natural stone, laminate and vinyl planks, wall tile, decorative accessories and installation materials. All items are personally picked by the store’s management and associates who live in the area. The store employs a team of 80 full-time and part-time associates.
The assortment includes 70,000 sq. ft. of flooring materials. Overall, the location offers 3,400 SKUs, with tiles encompassing 228 SKUs and more than 500 decor SKUs.
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Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg) -
Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg) -
Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg) -
Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg) -
Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg) -
Floor & Decor has opened its first New York City store, a 129,000-sq.-ft. location in Brooklyn. (Photo credit: credit to Floor & Decor Brooklyn, Anders Krusberg)
“Our assortment is what differentiates us,” Jerry McVeigh, VP of Floor & Decor’s Pro Services, said during a press event prior to opening. “Our merchants travel worldwide to secure merchandise. Out of the 240 manufacturers and quarries we work with directly, we bring in items that best reflect the neighborhood and still remain a low-price leader.”
With an eye on delivering personalized experiences, Floor & Decor offers free design services for both consumers and commercial customers. For example, consumers can visit the in-store 2,300 sq. ft. design center that features 32 kitchen, bathroom and outdoor space vignette displays. Displays are updated twice a year.
To further personalize the experience, Floor & Decor offers free collaboration sessions with in-house design experts that advise shoppers on how to approach renovation or refresh projects.
The store also caters to its professional customers, which comprise 60% of Floor & Decor’s customer base. Floor & Decor’s signature “Pro Premier Services” gives commercial customers access to a dedicated mobile app and live hotline, free deliveries to job sites, financing, free educational webinars, exclusive sales.
The retailer’s “Pro Premier Rewards” also enables professional members to earn points for every dollar spent. Rewards can be applied to merchandise, gift cards, live events and charity donations, among other options.
“Our business is based on building relationships,” McVeigh explained. “Our Pro Services are designed to help our commercial customers grow their business alongside ours.”
Future Expansion
The Brooklyn flagship marks the retailer’s 228th store, and 16th tri-state area location.
“This past year has marked tremendous period of continued growth for Floor & Decor,” the retailer's CEO Tom Taylor said in a company statement.
The company is well on its way to achieving its goal of opening 230 stores by the end of 2024, and 500 locations by 2030. Looking ahead, one region of interest is the Northeast.
“The Northeast is still untapped,” according to McVeigh. “We have four stores in Boston, but probably haven’t scratched the surface. Long Island has seven stores, while [Home Depot] has 27, so there's no telling how many stores we can continue to open in any market.”
Floor & Decor is also not afraid of “over-saturating” any specific market. For instance, when opening a 10th store in Atlanta, the company was surprised by the new location’s success — and how neighboring stores responded.
“The new store cannibalized the other neighboring stores, but within the year or two, after it opened and matured, the other stores continued to follow suit and raise their sales,” McVeigh reported. “It continues to amaze us how many people in a city’s surrounding area still don't know about Floor & Decor.”
It is this model that is encouraging the company to expand into new markets both inside and outside the United States.
“Our CEO has put that [500] number out there, but there's no telling how many stores we can open,” McVeigh said.
“Five hundred stores is going to be great, but that's just in the United States,” he added. “What's next after that? There's a lot of markets that we're not even in yet, and that's the amazing thing. We can continue to grow and there's no telling where we can go next.”
Floor & Decor operates 228 stores in 36 states.