Dean Kelly of Carpet Baggers Carpet One Floor & Home in Charleston, SC

Dean Kelly of Carpet Baggers Carpet One Floor & Home in Charleston, South Carolina, took home the 2024 Carpet One Floor & Home Alan Greenberg Award. The Alan Greenberg Award recognizes the member who most embodies the Carpet One Floor & Home spirit and who best represents what CCA Global Partners co-founder, Alan Greenberg, stood for. It is based on overall participation in programs, contributions to the cooperative, and support of fellow members throughout the year.

Since opening the store in 1992, Kelly has kept the business a family affair, having enlisted the help of his father, Colin Kelly; his sister, Traci Jobling, and her husband; along with his wife, LouAnn; and daughters Sydney and Parker.

Carpet Baggers has grown to be one of the biggest and most reputable retailers in the Low Country. That growth is attributed to Kelly, who is known for treating both his staff and customers like family. Always forward thinking, he has instilled a multipronged, hands-on approach to achieve success and position the business for the future by investing capital into the business, providing professional and personal guidance for staff development and, most importantly, giving back to the community through many philanthropic endeavors.

Sales in 2023 proved to be the company’s best year yet, and Kelly said that his projection for 2024 will be within 5% of that number.

“I’m going a little against the numbers with my forecast,” Kelly said. “Our natural trend has been our first quarter being our worst quarter, and each quarter is better than the last, with the fourth quarter being our best one of the year. Last year was completely reversed, with the fourth quarter being our worst quarter of the year, and the first quarter being the best one. So, even though we had an overall really good year, we trended downward, especially the last half of the year.”