Rolling up the carpet
Flooring business shutters after more than 35 years
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 27, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There aren't many houses in Yellowknife Paul McGrath hasn't seen in his eight years working for local flooring company Fitzgerald Carpeting.
Fitzgerald Carpeting co-owners Paul McGrath, left, and Mary-Ellen Savard are saying goodbye to their business after more than three decades. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo
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Once touted as having the largest showroom in town, the business helped roll out carpet, tile, vinyl, laminate, linoleum and hardwood flooring for Yellowknife residents and businesses for more than three decades.
After a combined 26 years working for the company, McGrath and co-owner Mary-Ellen Savard have officially closed its doors.
"For me, it's a huge change," Savard said. "Since 1998, it's the place I went to every morning."
A fire burned the original Fitzgerald Carpeting building at 304 Woolgar Avenue to rubble in April, and since then the company has struggled to get back on its feet.
The original structure was built by founder Bob Fitzgerald specifically to be a flooring store.
It was equipped with a showroom, warehouse, office space and housing accommodations for out-of-town installers who would come up to Yellowknife for work.
"The building we had before was perfect for us and after the fire we couldn't find anything," said Savard, who bought the company from Fitzgerald in 2011 with McGrath. "It was a flooring retail situation and there just really isn't anything else in one spot in town just like it."
After the fire, the two business partners were "blown away" by the support they received from the community and their competitors, Savard said. People offered them warehouse space and trucks to provide their services.
They eventually relocated the company to 314 Old Airport Road, beside Staples.
But with no warehouse and a new showroom about 10 per cent of the size of their original one, Savard said the company was forced to lay off two employees.
One staff member worked at the warehouse while the other was a part-timer for the Sears parcel depot that the carpeting company also ran out of its building. People could come in to order or pick up parcels like appliances, beds or the Sears Wish Book at Christmas time.
The Sears depot has closed along with Fitzgerald Carpeting, Savard said. Two other employees have since been laid off as well.
The business partners said the last year has been extremely difficult.
"I don't know how to put it in words. I mean, the fire was devastating for both of us. Business just didn't seem to bounce back the way we thought it would," McGrath said. "With all the changes and all the obstacles that we had to face and climb and try to get over, we looked at everything and decided that it just didn't seem feasible for us anymore."
On top of the fire, Savard said business has been slower lately as more customers are contracting their flooring work out to companies down south.
"It's tough," she said.
Now the two co-owners are simply waiting to see what the future holds.
"I just want to thank everyone for all their support over the years," McGrath said.
