Kashmir Oriental Rugs: Art to Walk On

By Bruce Collier September 6, 2007 Issue

Kashmir Oriental Rugs started selling rugs in Pensacola in 1983. This past March the family-owned business decided to expand east, opening a store in Destin. The new location is on Commons Drive. The latter is a thoroughfare running parallel to U.S. 98, on which a crop of new businesses has been springing up in the past few years. The Malik family, Kashmir’s owners, did their research carefully before choosing this spot.

Tony Garrett is a partner of Naveed Malik, though he says “the whole family is pretty much my partner.” Naveed grew up in his family’s business, and is a master technician in the repair and cleaning of rugs. Garrett came to the rug business partly through his longtime friendship with the Maliks, and partly from a desire to make a change from his former business — that of computer training.

“I got tired of the stress of managing the office,” he says. Garrett has a degree of from University of West Florida in computer science, and managed computer-learning centers in Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola. He had to educate himself on the trade of rug selling. “I jumped right into it,” he says. In doing research for expansion, he and the Maliks looked at a very specific demographic.

“The majority of our business is high-end,” says Garrett. Kashmir was looking for an area with a high percentage of households averaging $100,000-and-up per year in income. The growth of population and new construction over the past five years was also a factor in choosing Destin. Decorators and designers form the bulk of the store’s clientele, but individual buyers and do-it-yourself decorators are also welcome to browse. Garrett says this store has about $800,000 in inventory arranged within its 2,400 square-foot space. In addition to selling rugs, Kashmir offers an appraisal service, consignment sales for merchandise in good condition, and a hands-on rug cleaning service.

The store consists of two adjoining showrooms with rugs arranged on the floor, racks, and on the walls. The dÈcor is spare and neutral, well lit to give maximum exposure to the rugs themselves. The rugs vary in size from a few feet square to massive rolls. Garret says that most of the rugs are hand-knotted and hand-hooked. They are made from wool and silk with natural dyes. The store also carries some machine-made rugs. The stock comes from India, Pakistan, China, Iran, Nepal, and Turkey. Kashmir also sells antique rugs.

The back room, which has a sliding gate door for truck loading, is the cleaning area. A rug is currently draped over a wooden rack. No machines are used to clean the rugs, which are hand-scrubbed and sun-dried. “That’s key for oriental rugs,” says Garrett. Sun drying has to be well monitored in the recent intense heat. “The sun will burn them up if you’re not careful.” Kashmir also warns against steam or dry cleaning, which reportedly breaks down wool through removal of oils and chemical damage.

Future plans for Kashmir include exploring franchise offers, entailing an investment covering inventory, fees, training and location research, and operating expenses.

Garrett says he enjoys the atmosphere of tradition in the rug business, which he finds “fascinating.” Rugs are big business in the Mid-East, where designs are named for towns and villages and where some families have been hand-making rugs since the 16th century. Rugs are Iran’s second-biggest export, says Garrett, oil being the first.

In addition to straight floor sales, Kashmir also offers a free “in-home” trial service to buyers. A customer chooses several likely rugs, which Kashmir delivers and lays down in the customer’s home. This gives the customer a chance to see how the rug will look in the intended location and lighting, not just how it looks in a showroom.

“Our ultimate goal,” says Garrett, “is to ensure that the customer finds the rug. If we don’t have it in Destin, we’ll go to Pensacola, or to the supplier.” Some suppliers offer custom-made rugs from a catalogue of designs, and the Maliks make buying trips overseas in search of stock. Kashmir will work with the customer in trying to ascertain exactly what is wanted.

“It’s just a matter of time,” says Garrett, “before we find the right one.”

Kashmir Oriental Rugs’ two locations are at 4010 Commons Dr. West, Destin, (850) 650-0009, and 6925 N. 9th Avenue, Pensacola (850) 477-9874. The website is www.kashmirorientalrugs.com.

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