Business Profile: Absolute Flooring of Yorktown
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
This is a special year for Absolute Flooring of Yorktown because it is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
In October of 1986, Stormville resident Mary Fellbusch and her husband, Peter, originally opened the store on Crompond Road (Route 202). “My husband was an installer and he was doing a lot of commercial work and we decided to open up a storefront,” she recalled in a recent interview.
Fellbusch quipped that the couple decided to open their first store because they were “young and stupid.”
The couple moved their store to its current Front Street location about a decade ago. Fellbusch said the move took place during a “horrific snowstorm” in January 1996. The move was hard, she noted. “We had drifts of three or four feet of snow,” she said. “We almost didn’t make our opening.”
One of the reasons the couple decided to move to Front Street was because they wanted to have their warehouse attached to their showroom, Fellbusch said.
“It was a perfect fit,” she said.
The family business offers “all types of resilient flooring, hard surface, carpet, wood, tile, laminates, cork, (and) area rugs.” Fellbusch explained, adding her items are sold for both commercial and residential purposes. “We install everything we sell.”
Fellbusch said Absolute Flooring has increased the variety of items it has sold since its inception. “When we opened our doors we really just did sheet vinyl, tile and carpet,” she said. “We just needed to diversify what we were selling and the demand was there.”
Most of Absolute Floorings customers come from northern Westchester, Fellbusch noted.
Fellbusch said it has not been easy to operate a successful business for three decades. The keys to her store’s success include, “hard work, putting ourselves out there, god service, quality work and we make a good partnership,” she said.
Absolute Flooring is truly a family affair. The couple’s daughter, Christine, is employed by her parents and their son, Bryan, pitches in twice a year even though his primary residence is in Berlin, Germany, to update the store’s Web site and advertising, Fellbusch said.
Working together has not put a strain on her family, Fellbusch said. “We all have our responsibilities and it doesn’t usually overlap. So we tolerate each other,” she said. “We enjoy what we do.”
Fellbusch said she had a goal for Absolute Flooring. “To last another 30 or 40 years so that my children can take over the business,” she said.
Absolute Flooring of Yorktown is located at 1735 Front St. For more information, call 914-245-0225, send a fax to 914-245-0233or visithttp://www.absoluteflooring.com
