As you’re driving through town looking for the best place to stop in your latest quest to get that next home improvement project started, you might recognize Bill Burrell as he drives past you on the way to his office at Floorscapes.
As you pull in behind him at the huge Floorscapes showroom at 8515 Paseo Alameda and go inside, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘I know that guy.' That might happen as you realize how awesome the retail space Burrell has created in North Albuquerque really is, expansively filled with visions of what a home or office can be.
That’s because Burrell is one of us, a longtime Albuquerque citizen and entrepreneur. Burrell certainly knows what he’s doing; he’s got the vision thing down. He’s been in the interior design business for more than 40 years. In that time, the Albuquerque native and local business leader has grown a formidable reputation for success in all of his business endeavors. That includes Floorscapes.
Albuquerque City Lifestyle Magazine sat down with Bill Burrell to find out more about the man behind the carpeted, color-coordinated myth. What we found was a confident master of Burque business, full of historical knowledge, names, and keen insight into the market that he serves. More importantly, Burrell demonstrates a deft, artistic touch fashioned especially for clients. Since those clients range from manufacturers to contractors to weekend warriors, you might say that Burrell is a man of the people, able to work with anyone who enters the world of Floorscapes.
We conducted a wide-ranging, story-filled interview with the man. Here are the highlights of a conversation with a truly authentic Albuquerque leader.
Burrell told us that his interest in home interiors began when he was younger, recalling that “the story that got me into this industry starts right out of high school. My dad was the president of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Mexico. One of his best friends was a carpet and flooring installer. He was at our house one Friday afternoon in 1973 when I had just graduated. I had come home, and he was out front, drinking a beer. I sat down with him for a minute; his name was Bill Madsen. He asked me what I was going to do with my diploma.” When Burrell professed that he had no idea what was next, his father’s friend told him, “You’re gonna start installing floors with me on Monday morning!” It was a good deal. Madsen, it turns out, was the best installer in the state, responsible for projects like the flooring in the state capitol building in Santa Fe.
That humble yet auspicious beginning led to more opportunities for the interested and highly focused Burrell. Three years after high school, he took on UNM, getting a degree in marketing before resuming his life’s work at House of Carpets, a legendary Albuquerque business. Burrell said, “They hired me as an assistant manager. I spent the next 17 years there. We were a big deal in New Mexico; we had eight stores, and I had risen to the position of sales manager.”
After that sort of success, Burrell made a big decision that would change and expand his professional life. “I decided I wanted to get involved with the manufacturing side of the home improvement industry,” he told us, reasoning that, “I wanted to get out of retail, to learn about the manufacturing and distribution process.” When Burrell secured a position with a leading flooring manufacturer, “It was a big deal. We packed up everything and moved to Phoenix.”
Three years later, Burrell was back in Albuquerque, brimming with the knowledge and experience he had sought out and ready to re-engage a wide variety of businesses and employers, from his former employers at House of Carpets to the nationwide manufacturer, Mohawk Industries, where Burrell served as a regional manager with 14 sales representatives in his ken. In the next few years, he built his resume and his reputation in this town. “I had a pretty solid background at that point, the installation side, the retail side, manufacturing … a lot of common ground with the people that I called on.”
And by 2000, Floorscapes began to take shape. When Burrell dived back into the Albuquerque business world, he got involved with the longtime and legendary dean of Albuquerque interiors, Phil Raby, a fellow local entrepreneur who owned the ever-expanding Raby Carpets. Raby asked him straight up what Burrell thought about opening a Floorscapes retail outlet in Albuquerque. Floorscapes was the name of a division of Mohawk Industries that stressed solid design and constructive client relationships for an upscale home improvement market. “Even before Phil came to me with an offer, it was always in the back of my mind. Floorscapes would work great in Albuquerque. So we entered into a partnership.”
The partnership persisted until 2002, when Burrell and his wife Debbie decided that the best path forward would be on their own. They bought out Raby’s interest in Floorscapes and the small storefront that was part of the deal, and proceeded to land a huge contract with Charter Homes, a large-scale builder invested in Albuquerque’s growing westside, securing their success and paving the way for the future of Floorscapes. In the next 20 years, the business would continue to grow, eventually settling into an expansive, beautifully designed headquarters and showroom on the north side of town.
Burrell summarized his amazing story and the continued success of Floorscapes calmly, almost casually as he concluded, “I’ve survived, we’ve survived because we take care of our customers, we take care of the manufacturers that serve our clients, we take care of our staff. That’s the reason we’re here today. Whenever I meet with my staff, I always convey to them that there is one really important thing to remember in business: Treat people the way you want to be treated.”
As I prepared to leave, Burrell got up from behind a desk overlooked by two of his father’s heirloom Kachina dolls, politely said goodbye, and headed out for a celebratory company dinner. That dinner, that part of his life, he told me as he left, was all about honoring the installation crews that are at the heart of Floorscapes and its Albuquerque success story: “It’s an appreciation thing; it’s a big deal. We’ve got a caterer coming in, I want to honor these folks.”
Floorscapes - 8515 Paseo Alameda NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113
(505) 224-9316 - floorscapesnm.com
I decided I wanted to get involved with the manufacturing side of the home improvement industry.