Only ten
years ago Harris Tarkett was highly regarded in the
hardwood flooring business by installers and dealers.
I
worked with many of their products in the late 90's
and was always
pleased. Then the tables turned. Not
sure when it can be pin pointed, but I heard from a
distributor in Florida who didn't want to take it on
after a long relationship with the company. This was
2004.
Negative
reviews from installers on our message board echoes
the sentiment to this day. As a former internet dealer of many big
name prefinished hardwood products, I dropped it in
mid 2007 because of too many quality control complaints.
...Maybe They're Going To Get It Together
Being
the unknown guy at conventions I spent some time at
the new Harris Wood booth. Yes, it's a new name. I
approached one Harris Wood person and mentioned I had been very
pleased with their products in the past, but something
happened. The discussion went on like this...but it is
not in absolute context.
"New
name? Why?"
"We're
reorganizing...under an investment company..."
"Oh, no,
that sounds scary, " I quipped, having full knowledge
of what happens when other guys get their hands on a
business that is not their core of operations.
"We have
complete control at the end of the day..."
I wish I
had more to go by and took some notes or pulled out my
tape recorder, but I had other stuff to look at. If
Tarkett is going to make a comeback they're going to
have to do more than a name change. They do have one
new product introduction in a painted wood appearance
similar to Anderson, called Painted Desert Hand
Scraped. |
