The heroic team at Guhde Flooring America uses its powers for good
By Patricia Nugent
This probably won’t be the winter you go to the theater to catch the latest blockbuster movie. That isn’t stopping the larger-than-life characters over at Guhde Flooring America from letting us shine a comic light on their talented team and spectacular superpowers.
Meet the Agents of Guhde.
These Supers Know How to Flex
Their backstories share a canny element of providing an out-of-this-world level of customer service. And their superpowers are dedicated to protecting the public from the evils of a mediocre experience. Here customers enjoy endless selection, best-in-class pricing, innovative design help and master installation.
Here’s the rundown on those powers:
“Jumpstart” (Shawn Rosa) Growth and change in business are necessities and great businesses continue to evolve. Whenever the business needs that extra spark, Shawn is always ready to implement new ideas and modify processes and procedures. His dedication to make the business improve helps lead them on to be a successful family enterprise.
“Heartbeat” (Monica Guhde-Rosa) She is the center of the business and controls the flow of everything that enters or leaves it. She is involved in every decision they make as a company and keeps the team grounded. The company couldn’t survive without its heart keeping the pulse of business steady.
“Mr. Future” (Mike Guhde Jr.) Mike is always looking toward what the company can and will become. His intuitive ideas allow them to challenge the team with new and creative ways to help customers and update their showroom. It’s a mystery if he can actually see the future or just knows that the future is inevitable, and if they are not evolving and moving forward as a company, they are moving backward.
“Mr. Next Door” (Philip Rogers) As Guhde’s new cabinet specialist, Mr. Rogers is what every neighborhood needs. With his many skills—from carpentry and cabinet installation to his IT degree and friendly smile—we have only scratched the surface of Phil’s multifaceted personality. It is indeed a beautiful day in Guhde Flooring’s neighborhood with him on the team.
“The Drive” (Mike Guhde Sr.) Not to be confused by Browns fans out there, this Drive is completely different. He is the man who created everything that Guhde Flooring America is today. His ability to lead and drive this company to become what it is now is proof that hard work can lead to success.
“Momma Bear” (Diane Guhde) DG has always kept a close eye on the business and the employees and cares for it and them from behind the spotlight. When she comes into the showroom, she knows exactly what to do to ensure the business is functioning properly.
“We’re Here for You”
“Seriously, we just thought it would be entertaining to give ourselves super identities,” says Monica. “This has been a tough year for many. We wanted to lighten up for a moment and let people know we are always here for them.”
She says they are thankful to their loyal customers, who are coming out of quarantining and, after staring at their home’s interiors for all these months, are putting their trust in Guhde to freshen them up.
A New Face on the Design Team
Although new to his role in the Kitchen and Bath Design Center, Philip Rogers has actually been in the trades for more than 20 years and spent many of those working at Guhde Flooring America as an installer. With a degree in IT, he’s uniquely qualified to use software to help people map out their ideas and visualize them on a practical platform.
“Beyond just having a wide product knowledge, I can recommend from a functionality standpoint what will and will not work in any design,” he says. “I can also come up with different ideas for getting the most value for a customer’s dollar, whether that’s adding a hood over an island stovetop for drama or knowing when to say an oversized island just won’t work in the design.”
Philip says that 95 percent of his time on installation jobs was spent troubleshooting.
“But even when you run into issues, something good usually comes out of the solution,” he says. “The creative process is all about change and redirection and rethinking the original plan. In the end, clients often come out with a different concept than they initially came in for.”
Trend Watch
|When it comes to kitchens, people are still asking for white cabinetry, but Guhde designer Philip Rogers says more daring folks are shaking things up by treating the island with a different, darker, bolder hue, such as steel gray or navy, or doing the lower cabs in a different shade than the uppers.
“Cabinets are featuring more little opportunities for everyday functionality and easy access, with things like roll-out spice racks and hidden trash cans,” says Philip.
Another of the newest and coolest trends is large-format porcelain wall slabs.
“Homeowners can punch up the personality of any bathroom or room by transforming a boring white wall into anything from solid marble looks to beachy palm leaves to frescoes of birch trees,” says Monica. (Look for a new full-size shower display in Guhde’s showroom to be finished this month.)
Two trends that have converged this fall to make the business busier than ever are that homeowners are “cocooning” due to Covid, spending most of their time at home and taking a hard look at their most lived-in rooms and wanting to transform them. Also, there’s been more economic stability than earlier this year when the pandemic first hit. The bottom line is, people aren’t afraid to spend money.
Guhde Flooring America is located at 1880 Mentor Avenue in Painesville Township. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Call 440-639-1990 or visit GuhdeFlooringAmerica.com.