WONZ recruits seven retailers to new advisory council

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/28/2010 1:10:40 PM

Marietta, Ga. - Wools of New Zealand has recruited seven wool carpet retailers to form its Premier Partner Advisory Council. 

The members include: 

• Paul Chapman of ABC Carpets in New York;
• Wyoma Craghead of CDC in Austin, Texas;
• Peter DiPaola of Cornell Carpets in Mt. Kisco, NY;
• Brett Hemphill of Hemphill's Rugs and Carpets in Costa Mesa, Calif.;
• Steve Lewis of Lewis Floor and Home in Chicago;
• Sam Presnell of The Rug Gallery in Cincinnati ;Steve Wilson of Synergy in Denver.

As Elsie Demboski, executive director of North America for Wools of New Zealand, explained, "With the expertise of the Advisory Council we are building something unique that will benefit our retailer partners, our mill partners and the New Zealand farmers that grow the best wool in the world."

Some of the exclusive Premier Partner priviledges include sales incentives, promotional pricing, wool specialist training and aggressive credit card processing rates, noted Sam Presnell of The Rug Gallery, adding that Premier partners are also "the sole participants of Wool for a Better World - a sale event being held in November - and will soon benefit from exclusive product introductions."

Said Brett Hemphill, president of Hemphill's Rugs and Carpets. "We discuss ideas together and work with Wools of New Zealand to launch programs that best benefit the wider group."

One idea resulted in Wools of New Zealand's partnership with Miele vacuums. Premier Partners retailers received exclusive coupons for give their wool customers.