Connections! in SW Florida - Featuring Susan Hadinger with Hadinger Floors & Cabinets.

It's Thursday, Susan. The typical work week's already over, but you and I know it never ends, does it? Correct. It's just another day in the week. Well, welcome. This is Renee Han, and this is part of what I've come to call Connections in Southwest Florida. So I just want to introduce my esteemed guest today. I'm really happy to have Sten Hattinger with Hattinger Flooring with us. I know her personally and I know her professionally, and I can tell you she is just a powerhouse, whether it's at the store or whether it's out and about or in her personal life. If you've ever seen her at Orange Theory and some of those places, you would know just what a powerhouse she is. So Susan, long intro. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me, Renee. I appreciate it.

I'd like to start with a little bit of an introduction. You can share perhaps just a little bit about yourself and your role, and then I'd like to dive into Hattinger Flooring. And you guys have gone through some expansion in terms of offerings, so love to cover the products and services that you offer. So let me turn it over to you. To tell us a little bit more.

Yes, ma'am. So we offer flooring, obviously. We have a huge selection of area rugs in stock as well, and we have recently added cabinetry to that list. So we are sort of a one-stop shop now for everything floors, cabinets, area rug related, as it were. And, uh, We are open for business.

Awesome. And, and actually Susan's being really, um, really humble right now because if you've ever been into their showroom, which is just off of Airport Pulling, not far from Naples Boulevard, tucked between J&C and Trade Center, right?

Correct.

Yes, they have, I think, probably one of the most exhaustive product offerings in all of those categories. So whether it's the flooring, whether it's the rugs, the floor covering, or the cabinetry, I must say you guys have a lot. It can be overwhelming, right? But that's a good thing.

Yeah.

So talk to us a little bit about, do you work directly with the end consumer? Do you guys work with contractors? Tell us a little bit about how people might come to do business with Haddinger.

So we do all of the above. We definitely work with the end consumer and we specialize in that. I would say our designers have been here forever and they are experts in the field. They are very adept at helping people go from A to Z, all the way from designing to install and completion. Um, and that is our forte, but we also have a number of contractors and designers and professionals that we work with as well. And we've had, you know, relationships with a lot of people for a long time. So we do, we do it all, frankly.

Well, and how long has Hattinger been around?

I'm sorry, you cut out.

What was that?

How long has Hattinger Flooring been around?

Hattinger Flooring has been around for a very long time. We've been in this location for Oh no, we lost Susan.

There she is, she's back.

I can't hear you. Can you hear me?

Sorry, I can hear you. I lost you.

Can you hear me?

I can't hear you. I don't know what happened.

Um, I can hear you. Can you hear me yet? You're muted. I can hear you. Can you hear me, Susan?

I hear you.

You know what, we have—

I know what to do, Renee.

I can't hear you.

Well, I could talk all about Hattinger today. I'll tell you what, Susan, you can't hear me.

Log out and come back?

Log out and come back in. OK. While she's away, my apologies for the technical difficulties. She's in their actual store, and the reception can be tough. But let me say a few things while we wait for Susan to come back in. One, as I mentioned, they have a lot of products, and when she comes back, I'll have her talk about the wide array. But even within flooring, I sometimes forget that in addition to the flooring that they have in terms of tile and stuff, there's actually tile product that you can also use for your walls, bathroom backsplashes. Susan, can you hear me again?

We do backsplashes, we do all of that. And even outdoor.

Wonderful.

Yeah, it's a big thing now. We have products for that, pavers, that sort of stuff too.

What— talk to us about— let's step through each of those because, you know, in and of themselves we could probably talk for half an hour about all of them. But let's start with flooring. Um, what different products do you offer? Not necessarily brands, but the different products.

Everything you put on the floor. We have tile, we have LVP or vinyl, we have carpet, wood, lots of selections in all of those categories. And anything that goes on the floor, we have basically.

And what's sort of what's hot right now, Susan?

Well, I'll tell you, vinyl has been hot for a while, but recently in the past few months, we have seen a resurgence towards wood again. So wood is starting to really come back and we're excited about that. There's a lot of very beautiful innovative products that are coming out in the wood department as well. But vinyl has been, you know, the hot category for the past year and a half, I would say, up and coming.

And when we talk about, when I hear about Corktec, is that a vinyl product?

Yeah, Corteck is the leader in vinyl, frankly. They were first and they have the largest selection, and we have the largest selection of Corteck in the area. I don't think anybody has more Corteck than we do. We have over 250 SKUs from them and they have a huge breadth of product, which is really nice. I mean, there's some new product out, Grande, that has has longer, wider planks. It's even more realistic looking. They've done a great job of mirroring the wood look very well.

I was gonna say, two of the houses that I've sold in the last couple months had Coretec, and— oh, I lost Susan again.

Are you there?

Oh, there she is.

Sorry.

Two of the houses I sold had Coretec, and the Coretec, you know, people would come in and they loved the product, both in terms of the aesthetics of how it looks, as well as loving the durability of it. So I know we lost Susan again. I'm going to see if she pops back in one more time. But I did, while we're waiting for her, I wanted to share, I had the pleasure of working with Haddinger recently on my home renovation project and used them in two different places. One, I'll show you my wood-like tile. So I don't know if you can see that, I have got these gorgeous planks and they're really hardy and long, the coloration is very realistic. And then I also used them in my tile for my bathroom. So had the opportunity to stray a little bit outside of just pure flooring and used their tile for all of my bathroom and my wall surround.

Susan, I was just showing them the product, the Hettinger products that I have in my house while we were waiting for you to join. Let me ask this. Let's move over. Talk to us a little bit about your entry, Hettinger's entry into the cabinetry space. Susan, we can't hear you. I could hear you before, but I can't— hold on here. Okay, say that again.

Can you hear me now?

Now, yes.

Okay, good. Okay, so we entered into the cabinetry space a couple of years ago, and, um, it's been a fun, sort of interesting process, and we are currently still Sorry, currently we are, we have some new people involved in the cabinetry space and we are offering even more product and more breadth of what we can do as far as more remodel type than just cabinets, if that makes sense.

So say a little bit more, meaning like, are you talking about entertainment centers, that kind of thing?

We can do anything and we can do it from start to finish. Whereas before it was more just cabinets and we could install cabinets. Now we are adding the other pieces that obviously go along with that, which is usually if you're putting in cabinets, you're not gonna keep the same footprint. Yeah, countertops, you're gonna move some things around. So we can do that more easily under this roof than having to involve other people and keep it all as a Hattinger experience, which is nice.

So people are starting to— Do you guys actually pull permits for that then? Are you saying you can manage it more of a full permit process, or I might be understanding, or beyond just providing cabinets? Okay.

Yes.

Awesome. That does make it easy.

Yes. So that is our goal because service is basically our main thing. We want to take care of our customer from start to finish. And so if we can do all of it for them, that helps them and it helps us. And it's a, you know, we're trying to be as service-oriented as we possibly can. And whatever we can do to help our customers is what we want to do.

So, well, and when I was last in the showroom, just kind of out of curiosity, flipping through the cabinets, because my cabinets didn't get replaced when I remodeled, I just painted them. There were some great, I mean, I remember even seeing not just unique styles, But even some of the color options you have almost resemble true custom cabinetry. I was really impressed with the stock that you guys have there.

Thank you.

Well, we're constantly evolving as far as all of our products go, trying, you know, staying up to speed on what's new and innovative and keep our offerings fresh for our customers so that they are on the cutting edge with us.

Well, good. Since you guys are now on the cabinet forefront, my next million-dollar question, because of course in real estate, and you go to look at a house, everybody talks about cabinetry. What's hot? Is white still in? Are you seeing white orders, or are people diversifying?

I mean, I wish I could say there's like some great, uh, beautiful, unique thing, but white shaker is still hot. Sorry.

I mean, it won't be forever, but yeah, it's, it, you know, it's true that the, the interior designers keep trying to introduce new waves of cabinetry fashion, but people are still migrating to the tried and true, right? It's where people come down here and they fall in love with light and bright, and it falls right into that. Um, tell me a little bit, because you started to talk about this, about customer service being so important for you. Talk to me about what— you know, there's flooring companies obviously in different parts of town. What do you think is the, the Hattinger advantage? What are some of the differentiators? If people were new to the area, didn't know you, and we're trying to decide, who are they going to go to?

Well, so I would say that one of the things that really sets us apart is our customer service. Our salespeople are extremely experienced. They've been in the business for a long time. We make sure that they stay up to speed on all the products, you know, offerings and new stuff that comes out, and they are really good at helping customers like you said, decipher— there's a million products here. So when you walk in, it's overwhelming, and they are really good at helping people sort of navigate that by asking the right questions, getting them thinking about what they need and what they want, and taking them really from start to finish. A lot of people will think, well, if I just buy the product, I can get it installed. How hard is that? Well, it can— you can run into some issues if you don't have you know, a professional installing your product, and then there's an issue and you try to go back and the installer won't take care of it. And so we stand behind our install and our product from start to finish so that our customer doesn't have to worry about a thing. So they don't have to organize it, they don't have to plan it, they don't have to do anything except come in, pick it out, and then we take care of the rest and pay for it. Well, yeah, please pay for it. That would be great.

We don't want them getting all that done and not paying you, Hattinger Flooring.

No, please don't do that. Yes, thank you.

Let me talk for a minute because you also have the rug segment. And we're not talking about go to Home Depot and pick up a $100 rug. You guys have really good rugs and you go all over. I can remember, you know, living far from you and you being on exotic trips to go rug hunting. Talk to us a little bit about that space because I know that's part of where you grew up.

I don't know about exotic, but we definitely do go on buying trips, and we have over 8,000 area rugs in stock. So we, you know, whereas some people will have a certain kind of rug, we run the gamut from machine-made, which is a lower end, and all the way up to hand-knotted, which is the highest end. We have a huge selection of everything in between, hand-tufted being the middle which I don't think a lot of places have as many hand tufted as we do. So we really, I would say, excel in that mid to upper end space. But we have every color, every design. If you can't find it here, really, I think, I don't know if it exists. We have everything here as far as—

Well, and I know this, Susan, having purchased a rug from you, you guys sometimes, if you don't find what you're looking for and we talk to you about it, you actually have some things to the side that you can bring out that you might not have a huge one on hand for, but that you're able to order. So I always say, don't stop with just your inventory. If you've got a vision, Hattinger can help find what that is, both in terms of if you just have an aesthetic look you're looking for, or an actual product type. I've found you guys are able to obviously acquire that too.

Yes, you're right, we are very creative here. So if there's something that, like you said, you didn't find, we can order something or we can custom make a rug. If it's in your head, we can make it.

So yes, good, good. Well, and speaking of rugs, one of the things people may know Hattinger Flooring and Cabinets for is the generosity you guys have on an annual basis with our teachers. Who serve the community. And tell us a little bit about that outreach that you guys do.

Yes, thank you. So my mom started that teacher rug giveaway 10, we're going on 11 years ago, and she thought it was important to give back to the community and teachers being, you know, underappreciated, underpaid. They were a good group to give back to, we thought. And they could use it in their classroom. You know, you can use an area rug in your classroom for kids to sit on. So it seemed like a good fit. And we've been doing it. Last year was our 10th annual, and we really did it up and gave a bunch of prizes away in addition to an area rug for each teacher. And we love doing it. The teachers love it. We love doing it. It's just a nice, a nice event for us. And we like to give back where we can.

So.

Well, I'll tell you, because I'm the PTO treasurer for, for I hear about this. People are waiting every year for the opportunity to go shop for their rug for their classrooms. And they all proudly, you know, share those things with, you know, when you come into the classroom. So it is making a difference, even though they're not able to enjoy it right now in their classrooms, right?

Thanks to COVID.

Right. Well, tell us a little bit about how has COVID affected the business? I'm glad to hear you said you're open for business, but tell us, has anything changed about how you're having to do business?

Well, I'm sure things are changing for everybody as we go forward, but we have, for our part, we have adhered to the CDC guidelines as they've been laid out, you know, as they evolve. So we've definitely upped our cleaning and we will continue to do that. We have no plans to back off on that. We disinfect every night, we fog once a week, We ask that our customers wear gloves if they're going to touch product. We offer masks if people don't have them on already, if they would like them. And we also practice social distancing as far as in the store. We're fortunate that we have big showrooms, so there's really no issue about people being too close together. We have enough space here for all of our customers and employees, but our employees are working at a different sort of reduced schedule right now to maintain that social distancing and those guidelines as well.

Great, thank you. Well, I'm hoping as things start to return to some new normal that you, along with all the business owners, can continue to enjoy the success that you have in the past. I know COVID has not been kind to those. It's kind of hard to run a profitable business when you can't open your doors and people can't come in. So I completely get that and have nothing but good wishes for you. You guys have been a pillar in the community, and I'm confident that you'll come back strong. I did want to ask, so I want to make sure everybody knows, because, you know, unless you're dealing regularly with, you know, construction and things, people may not realize how simple it can be. And so I want to go back and thread a couple of points that you made throughout our discussion. So if you're— if you've got a flooring or even a tile or a cabinet need If you go to Hattinger, the first thing is they have people that, one, design, so you don't have to, you just have to maybe be able to engage with them about what things you like. You've got people that know the products intimately. You've got installation and all of those things, although I don't think a rug needs much help with installation, but you do, you have delivery, yes?

We have delivery and setup. So our delivery, rug delivery guys will bring it in and set it up however you want it, move it around so that you're happy with it. So for 8x10 or larger size. And I was gonna say our hours too. Right now our hours are 10 to 4 Monday through Friday and Saturday 11 to 3. We will be increasing the hours as people start to shop more and go back to normal hours. But for now that's what our schedule is. And also I wanted to just throw out one more thing. Yes, what you said is true about the designing, and we can also help you design anything from home. So we are open for business, and we are happy for you to come in anytime during the business hours or set an appointment to come in anytime you want. And if you prefer to stay home, we can have somebody call you and walk you through the process as well, and also bring things to your house as well.

It's amazing how we're learning to work in new ways, right? Especially when you've got something like your products that are tangible and You know, people like to see them. That's, you know, we're blessed with this online technology that you could have a consult and be almost as good as in person. Sometimes more productive because you save time without having to drive in. Right. What, we talked about the store being open. How about installation? Are you guys able to still do installations in home and anything different with that?

Installation has been going all along as well. We are, we're sensitive to whatever people's needs are. So our installers do have masks and gloves and booties, and they're happy to don them or not as the customer wants. It's whatever the customer feels comfortable with.

Fantastic. Well, I know that Mother's Day is around the corner. So yesterday we were talking about giving massages, but I know a lot of moms that would like a new kitchen.

That'd be a great Mother's Day present.

Yes, you can always present the opportunity for new cabinetry, new flooring, a new backsplash, a new area rug, and I'm sure Susan and her team there would be more than happy to make that a reality for your loved one on Mother's Day. And if not that, we talked about outdoor kitchens, not to get gender biased, I like outdoor kitchens too, but husbands really like outdoor kitchens, and I think next month is Father's Day, so you could be really reciprocal and go and get them that outdoor kitchen because they got you their new cabinets from Hattinger, correct?

I like how you think, Renee. That's good. That's very good, yes.

Oh, good. Let me, let me ask this. For a moment, I'm gonna take just a moment and divert off track, and then I'm gonna come back to you, 'cause I wanna make sure I cover some of the other upcoming coming businesses that we have before we leave. So if you join me tomorrow, I am interviewing live Mira Listica to come and talk about some of the things she's doing in the community when it comes to art. Really great story. Next week I've got a lineup. I've got the owner for Tritone Triple Bar. I've got Heights Title. I've got Boring to Bombshell Nails. I've got Melaleuca. I know I probably slaughtered that, but we've got a good lineup. And so my, my offer to all of you who might be watching live or perhaps on replay is the whole premise of doing these Connections in Southwest Florida was about me just leveraging some of my tools and my time to be able to give visibility to businesses, recognizing that we're, you know, we're in a challenging time and also recognizing that this challenging time has put more people than ever on social media filling that time with flipping through Facebook and other things. So I thought this was a good opportunity to connect people and businesses. So if you or anybody you know has a local business, that's my only requirement. I want to make sure it has the local roots and fairness to all. Um, not that there aren't great businesses in town that are based out of somewhere else, but priority goes to the local-owned businesses. If you know somebody that would benefit, it's free. You don't— nobody has to worry about me, you know, coming in and having a conversation and me sending you a bill. There's none of that. So I wanted to extend the opportunity and also encourage you to come to some of our segments at the end of this week and beginning of next week. So Susan, I want to wrap up with a couple things. One, I want you to, to reiterate where you guys are and the best way to get a hold of you. And two, I just want to open it up for anything that you'd like to share with the viewers that maybe we haven't covered. So please take it away.

Okay, we are at 6401 Airport Pulling Road North, and it's at J&C Boulevard and Airport. It's a big orange building, you can't miss it. So please come in, see us, or call us at 239-566-7100 and/or visit us on our website online, haddingerflooring.com. And we would love to see you. Come on in. We're happy to help. We're here for you. And that's it.

Thanks. Well, fantastic. Susan, thank you so much. I know you are incredibly busy and I appreciate you giving us a half an hour of your time for us to learn more about Hattinger. Again, I wish you continued success. You guys have been, like I said, a pillar of the, the community, both in terms of your generosity within the community and your superior products and services. So Thank you for being with us today, and everyone have a great day. We've only got one work week left in the, uh, in the week— one work day, I say, left in the week, unless of course you're in real estate, and then they just all blur together. So thanks for joining us.