If you’ve ever walked into Glover & Flack’s Flooring Warehouse in Chamblee, there’s a good chance you spoke with John Flack. John is the third generation in his family to go into the carpet and flooring industry after following in the footsteps of his grandfather and his father. “When we were old enough to work physically, we went to work,” John says, speaking about himself and his brothers, who were also in the business until they passed away. “It’s all I’ve ever done.”
He says even his grandmother sewed carpet by hand for a women’s only union in New York around the mid1960s. Now several of his children or spouses of his children are keeping the generational trend going.
John started his career in the carpet business as a teenager helping his father with installations. Eventually, he made the transition from installation to retail, and that’s where he’s been ever since.
He’s seen a lot of changes in the industry over the years. He recalls the early days going to Dalton on buying trips. At that time, he says he would visit chicken coops where vendors made and sold their carpet. He explains that all carpet from Europe is woven carpet, and carpet made in America is tufted carpet. John went on to explain that it was water that helped Dalton grow to the Carpet Capital it is today. “They built a big water plant,” he says. “Water is so important to carpet,” he says, adding that it takes thousands and thousands of gallons of water to dye the carpet. “So that was planning,” he says. “They planned for that.”
And Glover & Flack’s Flooring Warehouse has a long history of its own. The business has been around for more than 92 years! According to Glover & Flack’s website, it all started in 1931 as Glover’s Linoleum and Carpet located in Downtown Atlanta by Mr. Glover. In 1954, Glover moved the store to Peachtree Street across from Crawford Long Hospital. In the early 1960s, the store was sold to Art Foster, who brought the store to the Chamblee area. In 1994, Art sold the business to his then ex son-in-law, Tad Province. In 2016, Glover’s Linoleum and Carpet merged with John Flack Carpet Liquidators to become what we know today as Glover & Flack’s Flooring Warehouse, located in downtown Chamblee, at 3442 Miller Drive. In 2002, John’s son-in-law, Luke Merriam joined the business, and in 2008, Luke took over as business owner. And now several other Flack family members own flooring retail sites sprinkled across metro Atlanta.
Over the years the business has transitioned from carpet to all types of flooring. When you enter the showroom you see an assortment of beautiful carpet samples to choose from, as well as luxury vinyl, hardwood selections, and more. And they carry top brand names that include Dreamweaver, Shaw, Karastan, Mohawk, and more. John says that pricing for the consumer hasn’t changed much, and that people aren’t paying much more for carpet than they did about 25 years ago. That’s because of new technology. He explains that imported carpet is more expensive.
Even though Luke now runs the Chamblee location, John still goes into work and has no plans to retire. He says it’s the customers who have made his job so rewarding and that keep him coming into work. His customers are also generational. He says he now sells to the children and the grandchildren of customers he had earlier in his career. “It’s wonderful,” he says, about selling to multi-generational customers. “I still love it. I wouldn’t keep coming to a place where I wasn’t happy.”
Glover & Flack’s Flooring and Warehouse is a family business, and with four children and 12 grandchildren, John and his wife of 59 years, have a big family. John says the secret to working with family is to leave work at work. “We don’t talk about work when we get together and socialize as a family,” he says. “We work enough hours that we don’t need to talk about it when we get home.” And that seems to work for John and his family.
John's take on life is simple. “When you wake up you have two choices, you can be happy or you can be sad,” he says. “You can’t be both, so why not be happy. When you’re at work or when you’re at home, just do the best you can do. That’s all. You can’t do anymore.” And that’s sound advice coming from someone who knows.
If you’re in the market for flooring, check out Glover & Flack’s Flooring Warehouse. And for more information, visit the website at gloverandflacks.com.
"I wouldn’t keep coming to a place where I wasn’t happy.” John Flack