Flooring Sales Group LLC, a Coeur dAlene-based company that operates a chain of Great Floors retail stores in Washington and Idaho, says it has acquired the Spokane operation of The Invironmentalists, a national commercial flooring chain, for an undisclosed sum.


The Invironmentalists installed and maintained flooring, such as carpet and tile, for larger customers in Eastern Washington, such as hospitals, universities, hotels, and numerous businesses. Its operation here, which occupies about 15,000 square feet of industrial space at 3200 E. Trent, now is operating under the Great Floors name, and its 19 employees have been retained, says Doug Chadderdon, Flooring Sales Groups president and CEO.


The transaction is part of a big expansion plan, which will include the addition of at least three new retail stores in Washington over the next year, Chadderdon says. Flooring Sales currently has 15 Great Floors retail stores, including four in Eastern Washington, and employs about 350 people, he says.


Flooring Sales projects revenues of $80 million this year, up from about $68 million last year. The company expects the Invironmentalists acquisition, completed Nov. 1, to increase its revenues by at least $10 million, Chadderdon says.


It was a perfect strategic fit for us to solidify the commercial segment of our business, he says. We plan on expanding our commercial business.


Flooring Sales is owned by Chadderdon, his cousin, Ken Chadderdon, and Jim McGee, the companys chief financial officer.


In addition to the Invironmentalists acquisition, the company expects to open its third store in Spokane next year, Chadderdon says. It currently operates stores here at 5716 E. Sprague and 231 E. Francis. Flooring Sales also plans to open stores in Olympia, Wash., and in Pierce County, he says, but declines to elaborate on those plans. The company likely would hire a total of about 100 employees to work in those three stores, he says.


Flooring Sales plans to move the Invironmentalists operation next spring to a 65,000-square-foot building it owns at 4010 E. Alki, Chadderdon says.


We will use that facility to house our commercial sales and installation operation, Chadderdon says. We also will use some space for regional distribution to our Coeur dAlene stores.


The Invironmentalists chain is owned by Invista, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc., of Wichita, Kansas. Koch Industries is a huge private concern that has operations in about a dozen industries, including petroleum, chemicals, ranching, and pulp and paper.


Invista spokeswoman Kristin Altimari says the company is selling many of its Invironmentalists stores as part of a restructuring plan. Currently, there are about 90 Invironmentalists stores in the U.S. and Canada.