WORTHINGTON — Worthington welcomed a new business to its community Monday morning as Hometown Floors and More LLC opened its doors at 1313 Apel Ave. with an open house. While Hometown Floors and More’s name precedes itself, the business also offers shower bases, window blinds and backsplashes.
Tyler Stugelmeyer and Brandon Yeske — who started the business alongside Jesse Raudenbush — said the idea behind the business came about while they were out fishing one day.
“We were out fishing and Tyler says, ‘What are we gonna do when we’re older? We can’t install floors forever. We should build and open the store,’ and it just snowballed from there,” Yeske recalled.
“It did just kinda start as a joke,” Stugelmeyer admitted. “Then a week later, we saw that this location was on the market and it seemed like maybe that joke could become a reality. After that, we found out that Jesse was selling his local business in town and that he was looking for something else too, kind of in the retail world. The three of us just seemed to make it work and seemed like a good fit.”
While Stugelmeyer and Yeske have had a combined 20 years experience in flooring as contractors, Raudenbush is an outsider to the trade. He said not being familiar with the trade has come with both challenges and benefits.
Samuel Martin/The Globe
“I’ve done some DIY stuff around my own home with flooring and other interior design things in the past,” he shared. “I’ve been involved with some of the bookkeeping aspects and the general business practice aspects that come with running a business.
“I’ve been working with Tyler and Brandon both to get up to speed with some of the install things. It’s been great working with the two of them,” he added. “We all have our strengths and we all have our weaknesses. We put them together and the finished product seems to be a pretty well-oiled machine. It’s exciting. It’s something new that I don’t know everything about but I’m getting caught up day by day.”
After purchasing the building, which sits at the intersection of Apel Avenue and Oxford Street, on Jan. 11, the trio worked to get the store ready while also doing installations for customers.
“It’s been tough to balance the last few weeks,” Yeske said. “Brandon and I have still been installing for our normal customers on top of trying to balance that with being with reps and dealers, doing training and everything that goes along the business side on with keeping the schedule going with installing. It’s been a long couple months, for sure.”
“I would say melding all three of us into a collective vision and path going forward has been a challenge,” Raudenbush added. “There’s a lot there to work with, everybody has a good amount of skills. With all three of us being a little bit different in everything that we’re doing, that can sometimes be a challenge, but at the same time, getting past that and getting everybody working together to push things forward… It can be a challenge, but at the same time, there’s a lot of opportunity for growth.”
Our slogan that we’re going by is, ‘Big city design with small town hospitality.’ We just want people to have a good product and not feel like they’re just another number.
Tyler Stugelmeyer
One of their opportunities for growth is offering products that other flooring businesses don’t offer. Some of the products they’ll be selling and installing in addition to flooring include Onyx brand shower bases, shower surrounds and vanity tops, window blinds and window treatments and other similar products from such brands as Legacy and Casabella.
Stugelmeyer said public comment has played a large role in understanding how to serve Hometown Floors and More’s customers.
“A lot of people have said that there’s a need for it around here,” he said of the business. “Along with hearing from a lot of people, we’re bringing a couple new products to town that really aren’t offered in any other retail space in town. People hearing that seems to get them pretty excited because they won’t have to drive to Sioux Falls to go look at certain products.
“Having more products available to the local community seems to be their biggest thing,” he added. “It’s been very positive, there have been a lot of really good messages on Facebook, text messages, phone calls and people stopping in. It’s been very positive feedback.”
Their favorite part about owning their own business is the chance to give back to their community.
“Really, I would like to be very successful with the community and reach out to all parts of the community,” Yeske said. “We don’t want to target just one area and only work on high end homes or rental homes. We want to be able to cater to everybody, all demographics.”
“For us, we’re proud to bring new products to Worthington,” Stugelmeyer added. “We all grew up here, we’ve all been in town for 30-plus years. It’s always nice seeing new businesses come to town and just being able to be a part of that, there’s a sense of pride that comes with that.
“Going forward, we’re planning on being very active in the community,” he said. “As far as supporting events that are going on, we just want to be seen as a positive business in town by the community.”
What the three promise to their customers is their drive to deliver a perfect and personable service.
“We want to strive for perfection and get people what they want out of a floor in their home. We want to make the process as simple as possible,” Yeske said.
“Our slogan that we’re going by is, ‘Big city design with small town hospitality,’” Stugelmeyer added. “We want people to have really nice quality selections presented in a simplistic way. A lot of people walk into big box stores and there’s a hundred displays to pick from. It can get overwhelming. We handpicked products that we have installed in the past 10 years each and we’re comfortable with, we trust and we know them. We just want people to have a good product and not feel like they’re just another number.”
“We’re looking to provide the best customer service that we can,” Raudenbush shared. “We want to make sure that we give every job the best effort that we can with the attention and experience that we have and that we can give. Every job, situation and person is different. Your approach has to be different with every single customer. That’s what we’re hoping that we can provide; some expertise and knowledge about our different products that we can offer and make it as smooth as we can.”
A grand opening and cookout for Hometown Floors and More is planned May 5. For more information, visit Hometown Floors and More’s Facebook page or call them at (507) 329-9142.
