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How do I Choose the Best Carpet Store?

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Carpeting is usually a significant investment, and people want to make sure they get the most choice, the best value, and quality work if they pay for installation. There can thus be several considerations when it comes to choosing the best carpet store. Depending on what shoppers are looking for, choices may not always be the same. Some people favor price discounts over personal service or massive choice, for instance.

There are a lot of stores that sell carpet and not all of them specialize in carpet sales only. In particularly many home improvement stores have moved into the carpet market and sell both wall-to-wall carpeting and floor rugs. These stores might have better pricing, and some offer very good service. They are a good place to start looking. What they’re unlikely to have is one of kind or extremely high-end carpets, though stores can order specific types of carpets. However, if a person wants a hand made rug, they’ll find they need to look elsewhere.

Making price comparisons between carpet stores is a good way to ensure that you are getting the best deal.
Making price comparisons between carpet stores is a good way to ensure that you are getting the best deal.

Other stores deal specifically in carpeting, or in carpeting and flooring, and they may have more unique choices available. If people choose a carpet store like this and do end up with a fairly standard carpet, they ought to do price comparisons. Perhaps the home improvement store has a better price on the same rug or can install the carpet in a timelier manner.

When shoppers look to have carpet installed by a carpet store, they should take into account cost per foot, and also total cost of installation and padding. Getting a complete price from the store is the best way to price compare. Of course, people might save money either way by performing their own installation, but not everyone is gifted at this.

Most will want to know that any carpet they purchase from a carpet store or from any other type of store will be installed properly, if needed, and will meet certain quality standards. Stores may offer guarantees on their work or their product, and these can be a helpful point of comparison too. Another way to narrow down the choosing is to do some searches for the stores in organizations like the Better Business Bureau. It’s wise to know if a store has received a high degree of complaints for not honoring its agreements or not performing its work well.

One other question that many people want to know when purchasing area rugs especially is where these rugs were manufactured. There are many “Persian” type rugs that still are made at facilities that use child labor. For those people who want to avoid supporting this, they should closely inquire about this from carpet store dealers. If sellers can’t verify a carpet was made without child labor, people may want to search elsewhere, or buy fine mechanically made replicas of rugs instead.

Probably the best advice is for people to shop around and visit several carpet stores to get a feel for which ones seem the best. Checking up on business practices online can help verify shoppers won’t spend a lot to get less than they hoped. Having a degree of comfort with the staff, and knowing how well a carpet store compares in price, value and choice against other stores, can be very helpful too.

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

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Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent WiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon160322

What should I do? We had carpet installed, but there's a different shade in one area. They can replace it, but it will take time and will it mark up the walls? What other compensation can we request?

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    • Making price comparisons between carpet stores is a good way to ensure that you are getting the best deal.
      By: Africa Studio
      Making price comparisons between carpet stores is a good way to ensure that you are getting the best deal.