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Mike Rochford, owner of Lake Carpet and Mattress, poses for a photo in the showroom of the business at 6656 North Ridge Road in Madison Township. Lake Carpet and Mattress is marking its 30th anniversary in 2024. (Bill DeBus – The News-Herald)
The start of 2024 gave Michael Rochford the opportunity to celebrate for a couple of reasons.
Along with commemorating the beginning of a new year, Rochford’s business, Lake Carpet and Mattress, marked its 30th anniversary in January.
Lake Carpet and Mattress operates a 7,000-square-foot showroom at 6656 North Ridge Road in Madison Township.
The business provides customers with carpeting; vinyl plank waterproof flooring; other types of hard flooring; and mattresses.
In addition, Lake Carpet and Mattress delivers and installs all of its products, and offers free estimates and measurements on all carpets, its website stated.
But carpeting wasn’t part of the product mix when Rochford opened the Madison Township store in January 1994.
“When I first got into this back in the day, it was Lake Furniture,” he said.
Upon launching this new venture, Rochford already had experience in operational a traditional furniture store.
“I was just getting out of college, and I had a store called Furniture Nook on the west side of Cleveland,” he said. “Just all Amish furniture. It was real small, maybe a 600-square-foot store, and I wanted to expand.”
Rochford, who grew up in Rocky River, said his parents later moved to Madison Township in Lake County. One day, during his time as owner of the Furniture Nook, Rochford got a call from his father, who had information on a large retail space that had been vacated in Madison Township
His father said that the Carlisle’s department store, which was based in a plaza at 6656 North Ridge Road, had closed.
Rochford checked out the vacancy and ended up leasing half of Carlisle’s former store — essentially, its men’s department — to house Lake Furniture.
Eventually, Rochford became inspired to add carpeting to the store’s product mix, after he started shopping for a new carpet to install at his home.
The sale of carpeting and other types of flooring ended up being a very profitable segment of Lake Furniture’s business.
“My accountant, about three years later, looked and said, ‘Mike, hey, your sales in carpeting and flooring are so much more than they are in furniture.’ ”
At that point, Rochford decided to narrow down the store’s product list, and reflect that change with the new business name of Lake Carpet and Mattress.
Rochford said that stocking high-quality products and offering excellent customer service are two key elements that contribute Lake Carpet and Flooring’s success.
For example, he said the store offers both Mohawk and Shaw flooring products.
“They own about 80 percent of all flooring, and I carry both of those,” he said. “They carry the carpeting and vinyl plank waterproof flooring as well.”
Rochford said Lake Carpet and Flooring also employs its own carpet and hard-flooring installers, rather than relying on subcontractors.
“Our installers are amazing,” he said. “They’ve been in the business forever.”
When it comes to mattresses, Lake Carpet and Mattress features brands such as Serta and Simmons Beauty Rest. The store offers mattresses and related products for many different sleeping preferences.
“From twin up to king and all the way from soft to extra firm, and everything in between,” Rochford said. ” Adjustable bases also are becoming very popular. You can adjust the height of the bed for your head and feet.”
With carpeting, hard-floor options and mattresses on display in the store’s vast showroom, customers can get a more complete look at the products they’re shopping for, Rochford said.
“There’s a lot of flooring contractors coming out of the woodwork, working out of their trucks and vans,” he said. “And they say, ‘We bring samples to you.’ But you’re looking at a little 2-inch by 2-inch sample. When customers come in here, our best sellers are in stock. We’re not working out of our garage of van.”
In addition, people can try out the mattresses before purchasing them, he said.
Lake Carpet and Mattress also puts zero pressure on customers when they visit, Rochford said.
“Instead, we just listen to what customers say, and point them in the right direction,” he said. “And you’re dealing with the owner. I’m here all the time.”
Rochford attributes the continuing success at Lake Carpet and Mattress to Lake and Geauga County consumers having a strong desire to shop at locally owned stores.
That kind of customer loyalty will help Lake Carpet and Mattress to continue thriving in the future, he added.
“We’ll be here for a while,” Rochford said.
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