Raising the Barn

Atlas Flooring’s ties to the community & a growing one-stop model has kept it successful for 65 years

[Boulder, Colo.] Atlas Flooring is part of the landscape here in Boulder. The American Home Surfaces Group (AHSG) retailer, housed in a red barn, has been serving the community since 1958. It’s changed and grown over the years providing a full assortment of flooring along with kitchen cabinets. Today, business partners — and childhood friends — Leister Bowling and Jake Sloan continue to propel the business forward.

“Since 2005, we started making the most changes,” said Bowling. After tearing down a fence, putting in a paved parking lot and adding kitchen cabinets to its assortment, he shared, “We went from $2 to $2.5 million a year to $12 million to $13 million in sales — no labor.”

The barn showroom is roughly 4,200 square feet of space and there are two (red) warehouses across the street — one 5,000 square feet and the other 8,000 square feet. “We continue to try to grow in a small space,” Bowling said. “We have one of the largest stock inventory in the state.”

Atlas Flooring joined AHSG in 2005 when Bowling’s father owned the business (Leister Bowling and Sloan bought the business in 2007). Bowling said that, because of the “perks” of membership, “there was no reason not to [join]. The rebates are great. It’s an easy partnership.”

Bowling took FCW over to his two warehouses — one for hard surface and one for carpet. There, he shared his partnership with Mohawk for carpet pad, where the company brings a trailer full of product which is rotated as needed on the warehouse property.

“Hard surface in general has grown but carpet is king,” noted Leister. “It always comes back that square feet-wise, it’s what we do most of.”

Sloan explained that more than one particular vendor partner is driving its showroom floor, and for a rep to do well with the store, they too need to see it as a partnership. And, he noted, 95 percent of its business is in residential. “We don’t chase it, but we do some builder and custom homes,” he said.


Atlas Flooring team members include owners Leister Bowling and Jake Sloan and Monty Peterson, Todd Eberhardt, Mike Owens, Jason Jernegan, Bret Ward (not pictured), Sabrina Gomez, Tommy Martin, Rob Schlueter (not pictured) and Hank.
 
Storied History
Bowling started working at the store out of college, admitting, “The first year or two were tough for me.” But he soon made his mark on the business. “When we added kitchen, that was a project I spearheaded.”

Cabinets now do $2.5 to $3 million a year in sales. “When someone gets their dream kitchen,” said Bowling, that’s what excites him. “It’s not just Atlas Flooring. We are a one-stop-shop.”

Bowling was a wrestler and MMA fighter and has continued to be a part of the sport and trains others in a space at his home. That experience, he said, has helped shape who he is at work as well revealing that the sport has given him both leadership skills and the ability to have hard conversations when needed.

Bowling’s team is a key part of the store’s success, he told FCW. “Combined, Atlas’ team has 200 years of sales experience in the flooring industry. They are very loyal employees and a very good staff.” Added Bowling, “We are the competition. If we don’t have it, we’ll get it and we are very competitive with price.”