A restaurant project in Boston, Massachusetts​, designed by Studio DRAW features Parterre's Ingrained resilient plank collection. Photo: Parterre Floors and Brian Samuels Photography.

AHF Products is accelerating its investment into the commercial market with the acquisition of Parterre Flooring Systems, a leader in the commercial luxury vinyl tile segment of the flooring industry. Parterre built its reputation in the commercial flooring market over 30 years with an extensive product portfolio focused on design. Created in 1991, Parterre was one of the first designers and manufacturers of luxury vinyl tile, plank and sheet flooring products in the United States. Since its inception, it had grown into a leading design brand in its category, with a national sales force and distribution across a broad range of end-use segments, including hospitality, retail, healthcare, multi-family and commercial real estate. Its broad selection of flooring solutions emulates the look of granite, marble, limestone and wood, as well as metallic surfaces and other unique finishes.

“It’s a great company,” said Ralph Grogan, former Parterre CEO and new AHF team member. “One of the challenges we had is that we just had LVT, and as you know in the flooring business, more people are bundling products. We do a lot of multifamily work, and some of it is LVT, but a lot of multifamily work has wood products in with it. Some of our customers would prefer to maybe go to a vendor that has one-stop shopping for everything.”

PARTERRE FLOORING

The solution came through AHF Products. Last October, AHF Products launched Hartco Contract, a line of resilient flooring for light commercial, multi-family and manufactured housing installations, which is marketed through distribution.

“When Parterre became available, we looked at it and said, ‘There’s a first-class brand with fantastic relationships in the market,’” said AHF President and CEO Brian Carson. “It was just a wonderful opportunity to accelerate our entry into the commercial market.”

The addition of the Parterre brand, along with its product line and sales representatives and agents, will enable AHF Products to further accelerate commercial growth through its strong specifier team. They will leverage both AHF Products and Parterre product portfolios, strategically positioning AHF to better serve the complete needs of its customers. AHF Products expects the addition of the Parterre brand and products to extend its reach in the commercial resilient flooring category, including the healthcare, education, corporate and hospitality sectors.

HARTCO CONTRACT

“We have the best stable of brands in the industry with Bruce, Hartco, Robbins, LM Flooring and now Parterre,” Carson said. “Our legacy has always been leadership in hardwood flooring, and this past year, we entered the vinyl market with six rigid core collections as well as the brand-new Hartco Contract commercial line, geared toward the Main Street market. Our ongoing commitment is to create products that bring more value to our channel partners, across categories.

Carson said the acquisition will make the most of the current softening of the commercial market.

“All businesses are cyclical and commercial—for variety of reasons—is going to be in a down cycle,” he said. “But that's exactly when you want to be placing your bets and making your investments in the business. We're a small enough and nimble enough as a company at this point to choose not to participate in the malaise, and we're going to grow this year for sure. The market will begin to find its sea legs, I think, in the back half of the year, and then continue to strengthen from there.”

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