Business: ProSource of South Jersey Shore
Locations: 605 W. California Ave., Pleasantville, shore showroom of ProSource of South Jersey, in West Berlin
Owner: Mark Grossman, 57, of Linwood, and Aaron Bailey, of Medford
Employees: 3 in Pleasantville, 8 overall
Phone: 609-910-2270
ProSource of South Jersey Shore is a franchise of ProSource Wholesale Floor Coverings.
ProSource is a private, member-only showroom open to trade professionals such as remodelers, builders, designers and property managers, and their clients.
Our business model supports lower pricing. We don’t carry as much inventory with the associated carrying costs. We’re able to operate on a wholesale-pricing structure.
We have the same flooring that any other retailer has, and we service both residential and commercial clients. We offer products from the major mills and suppliers such as Shaw, Mohawk and Mannington, plus through our franchiser our own brand. We can do the biggest commercial job down to the smallest room in someone’s home.
We do not do installation. We refer people to installers. There’s a lot of overhead associated with labor in a retail store, so that’s another expense we avoid and can pass the savings along.
Entry: We started in West Berlin in 2000. We’ve always wanted to come down to this area. I’m a member of a family with deep retail roots in the area, the Kensington family. I managed the Kensington Carpet One store for 12 years. With Hurricane Sandy, my business partner and I recognized a need to service the area and its residents with the same kind of service they’d expect from a retailer because it’s my name on it.
Luxury vinyl tile is very popular these days because it’s waterproof and people are very sensitive right now about what water does to flooring. The flooring market is very competitive. The property became available in Pleasantville and was not only attractive, but it’s in the UEZ zone, so people who buy here will pay 3.5 percent sales tax. Retail customers who are interested can come in, and we’ll refer them to a builder, architect or installer. We sort of act as a clearinghouse for contractors and pair customers up with them.
The future: We’d like to continue to grow in this market, which is where I grew up and is very important to me.
