23/08/2008 by admin.

If you just wish that sometimes someone would do a brilliant price on a brilliant carpet - this is it!

A genuine bargain – one of the major wholesale buyers has impressed me. They have just introduced a “2 ply” berber style loop that is 100% wool – for an amazing price! You can take it as green from me that the price brings serious quality into the reach of those doing their first properties. It is hardly above the wool carpets designed for this market (which aren’t wool or 2 ply). It will be ideal for a modern, contemporary design flat or house – working brilliantly with modern furniture. You can get it at Tony Mustoe’s Carpets right now (let’s hope they make plenty of stocks).

Think before you buy

Ok, confession – I haven’t kept up with the blog as I should have done, so here’s some insight into carpet and flooring buying to make ammends.

Many members of the public seem more convinced than ever that they can name their price and the retailers will accept it – it’s more an issue of consumer pride than ever to get a price below the one they’re being offered. Well, sometimes it may work, but the truth about the flooring trade is that everybody works to surprisingly tight margins – including the manufacturers and wholesalers that supply the retailers.

In my experience, the price offered is usually the best price it is possible to give. Retailers all know that everybody is playing the same game. If you are out of synch with what other retailers are offering, then you probably won’t last long. There might be some discrepancy between those retail outfits offering more service than those that aim to shift product by numbers, but there is a reason for that.

When a retailer comes out and measures up, serves you expertly with advice in the shop and continues to help after the sale – they are working. Businesses offering this service based approach have to provide themselves and their employees with a fair standard of living. Don’t be surprised if they seem offended if you ask for their expertise for nothing so you can take that info to the out of town “sheds”.

If you are buying enough carpet to warrant “roll” price, then you can expect to get a better deal – but all the carpet retail professionals I know will offer you that anyway if you qualify (because if they don’t they know they will probably lose the order because they won’t be competitive enough). Respect your retailer and they will respect you!

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15/05/2008 by admin.

I recently spoke to a customer who bought Symphony, one of the special promotions running currently. She was very complimentary about the carpet and fitting. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind jotting down a quick email as to why she chose Symphony and what she liked about it. Here is what she sent copied and pasted from the email (which is also on our website):

“Dear LeeThank you for your very efficient service in supplying carpet.  The fitters did a really good job and I am absolutely delighted with the carpets.  I chose ‘Symphony’ in Pimpernel and Sage because I loved the depth of colour and thickness of the pile.  It feels and looks really luxurious.

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07/04/2008 by admin.

I thought I’d dedicate this first buyers guide blog to man made carpets. I have recently added a serious buyers guide on the three main types of man made fibre - nylon, polypropylene and polyester. I am not going to repeat the web content here so I thought I’d comment on my experiences in the shop discussing and selling carpets made from these fibres.

The trigger for starting this focus was a phone call from a prospective customer who’d been very happy with an “Anso-Nylon” carpet he’d bought 20 years ago - he couldn’t heap enough praise on it. Now he wanted to find a new one to replace it. I vaguely knew about nylon but not the refineries of it, including specific Anso details.

I set out to study everything I could to get up to speed on the subject, and was pleasantly surprised to discover what a seriously good carpet nylon made. If you’re anything like me, the word nylon conjures up horrific school shirts, sheets and curtains – anyone over 35 (at least) will probably remember “Brentford Nylons” (with a snobbish contempt if they’re honest!)

I was concerned that any carpet I might potentially sell to this customer would prove to be as good if not better than the one he was replacing (I’d get serious egg on my face if it wasn’t). The first thing I discovered was the phenomenal advances in nylon carpet fibre in the last twenty years.

Wool carpets haven’t changed much in terms of the fibre (sheep evolution is pretty slow), nylon however is a totally different proposition. You can click here to read details about nylon, but I want to tell you about the actual carpet itself.

We have a seriously good carpet in the shop called “Symphony” which I showed this prospective customer. He and his wife were suitably impressed and ordered it for his lounge more or less straight away. Symphony features all the very latest nylon fibre technology including:

• bounce back fibres that resist compression wear from walking on it

• several stain resistance processes that are actually manufactured into the fibre

• static proofing to prevent unpleasant shocks

• extra fine fibre extrusions that create an incredibly soft feel

Some wool-biased customers have had to agree that Symphony is softer than any wool in our shop (and believe me we have quite a lot). The only natural carpet that gets near it is from the Tollgate range of custom wool carpet (that is comparatively very expensive).

About a month after this sale, a rep came in and negotiated special terms on Symphony (and some other man made carpets). These terms we’ve now passed onto our customers making it an absolute steal (a genuine reduction of £5.00 a metre).

Symphony carries a heavy domestic rating which makes it suitable for stairs, lounge, halls, landings and dining rooms. Personally I would recommend you to view and feel it if you’re thinking of changing your bedroom carpet – this really is affordable luxury and has come down most of the way to a more average bedroom budget. If you already have underlay and gripper beneath your existing bedroom carpet – you’re laughing

Contact us from our website and book a home appointment – we’ll bring Symphony to show you and give you a great quote – or ring (01242) 515047

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09/03/2008 by admin.

 Hi….My name is Lee and I’m proud to be Tony Mustoe’s eldest son. Many of you living in Cheltenham and the surrounding Cotswolds area will know Tony passed away six years ago. He served his customer’s with honesty and integrity and built his business reputation on service above all else.

I am sure he would have been in favour of my humble attempts to help the carpet buying public become wiser and more educated, yet I know he wouldn’t have fancied the blogging spotlight himself!

Carpet retailing has changed significantly in the last twenty years or so, both in terms of the famous manufacturing names and the local businesses that still continue to survive in the face of the massive restructuring and corporate onslaught of national names familiar to everybody.

When I first started working for “Dad” I remember some of the well known names dear to the town…”Gage and Back”, “The English Mat Company”, “Crisco’s” and the bigger boys such as “Cavendish House”, “The Co Op” and “Cantors”.

Much has changed and while some retailers continue in name, they have become the outward appearances of larger corporate buying groups. I have been much heartened by the large number of customers we’ve had in the wake of the flooding disaster who have “insisted” they wanted to support the independent local business despite the insurance companies insistence on corporate style cartels.

Before starting this “blog” I published three pages of buying advice for those of you interested in natural plant floor coverings like sisal, coir and seagrass. I decided not to repeat the content of those pages in this blog simply because I’d conquered the technological aspects of the blogging software, so if anybody has read those pages and would like to comment on them they can do so here and I will respond to my best ability.

A large part of Tony Mustoe’s Carpets customer base is made up of the more mature, financially secure client who is making great inroads into the computer world – well it’ll be interesting to see how many of those whom I’ve given a helping hand with computer technical problems whilst measuring for carpets can tackle the RSS feed we offer on our site!

If anybody remembers Tony and would like to drop their memories of him into this blog, please do – I’m sure Maureen (his wife), Frazer (his younger son) and myself would be delighted to hear from you. Check our RSS Feed for pictures of the Mustoe carpet men in the early 1960s.

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