In 1992, Atlanta flooring experts Marc Seltzer (father; co-owner) and Jason Seltzer (son; co-owner) founded Atlanta flooring company Great American Floors.
Jason had recently returned home from The University Of Georgia and Marc was in the planning stage of changing his two year old company, American Carpet Distributors, into a full service flooring company. Marc saw the opportunities to expand into hardwood, hardwood refinishing and tile as well as carpet.
It all started on the dining room table of their home in Sandy Springs. Marc was the salesperson while Jason managed marketing and office administration. Six months later the company moved into a one room office at which time they were joined by Robie Seltzer (mom). Robie became office manager and bookkeeper. Through 1994 the company continued to grow at a steady pace.
A major turning point occurred in February of 1995. Marc had emergency open heart surgery and was unable to work for 8 weeks. At that time Jason and Robie met with the company CPA whose first question was “are you going to shut down the business”? Jason, having zero sales training or experience said “absolutely not”. With no other option, Jason grabbed his dad’s briefcase (which Marc eventually gave to him), and his samples and started selling. Our sales dropped for the next eight weeks but the company survived thanks to Marc’s hero, his son Jason. When Marc returned to work he and Jason were both selling and company sales doubled for the year.
In 1996 the company moved into its first location with a showroom and an attached warehouse. Prior to that the company utilized warehouse space at a distributors location.
As the business continued to grow each year staff and installation crews were added. In 2002 Great American Floors partnered with Mohawk Industries as a “Mohawk Floorscapes” dealer. This opportunity added Great American Floors to a national group of flooring experts and fine flooring dealers. The showroom and store fixtures were designed and installed by Mohawk.This began our co-branding with Mohawk. We chose this path when we saw the vision, products, service, support and the growing brand they were offering. Mohawk is now the largest flooring manufacturer in the country and has surpassed Dupont Stainmaster for brand recognition with consumers.
Today we are located in a 15,000sf. building on Roswell Rd. in Sandy Springs. We are proud of who we are and how we got here. Contact our Atlanta flooring experts today and find out about our unmatched variety of unique custom flooring options. Great American Floors is a member of Vistage International.