A Solid Foundation: Pasadena Floors Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Steve Garvey and Marty Kinder met at an apprenticeship when they were 18 years old. Together, they opened Pasadena Floors, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Over the last 25 years, Garvey said not much has changed in flooring other than the trends.

“There’s always a new category of flooring that becomes popular,” Garvey said.

He keeps up with the trends in a variety of ways, whether it’s attending conventions or watching “Fixer Upper” on HGTV.

“When we first got our gray hardwood floor samples, I saw those and I was like, ‘Who in the world is going to put a gray hardwood floor in their house?’” Garvey said. “Now, half of the floors that we’re doing have the gray tones in them. Those things start [on HGTV] and people see them and it all goes through.”

Garvey said that roughly 70% of his customers are repeats or referrals.

“One of the things that makes me real happy is now, after 25 years, I’ve got customers who are sending their kids in,” Garvey said. “They’ll say, ‘Just go see Steve at Pasadena Floors, and he’ll take care of you.’ We feel like we have a relationship with our customers.”

Garvey attributes this support, in part, to is his dedicated installation crew, some of whom have been with the company for 23 years.

At the apprenticeship, Garvey and Kinder spent four years learning from “some of the best in the industry” and working in exclusive places “the average installer just didn’t.” These practices were passed on to the installation crew at Pasadena Floors.

“We don’t have 100 crews. We don’t hire more installers when we get busy just to try and put more jobs in,” Garvey said. “We get good people; we take care of them because they’re our backbone. Without them, we’re nothing.”

Everybody who works at Pasadena Floors lives in the area, Garvey said.

“I think that’s important. Not taking anything away from the big-box stores, but they’re corporate,” Garvey said. “The people who own those buildings and are making profit off of those buildings, they’re on Wall Street. These are people that live right here in this community, and we put back into the community.”

To give back to the community, Pasadena Floors supports high school baseball teams and provides different discounts, like the Shop Local discount and a military discount.

“Pasadena is almost like an old-town community. It’s amazing how many people know each other in this community,” Garvey said. “So many people have grown up here and lived here all their lives. It has that small-community feel even though there’s a lot of houses in Pasadena.”

Pasadena Floors officially celebrates its 25th anniversary on June 1. The store is located at 2900 Mountain Road. For more information, visit www.pasadenafloors.com.