PURE-PLAY RETAILERS MAKING AN ONLINE COMEBACK.(business at Smooth Corp.'s online flooring stores grows, EarthWiseFloors.com online flooring store launched)

HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, February, 2003 by Honores, Crystal; White, Jennifer

NEW YORK-Only two years after the dot-com demise, two pure-play flooring retailers are reporting dramatic growth curves.

Smooth Corp., which operates several flooring-related online stores, including Ifloor.com, and Rugman.com, also a pure-play retailer, said their businesses are growing, with Rugman.com doubling every quarter and Smooth Corp doubling its business year over year. Rugman.com has found success by sourcing rugs directly from Iran, while Smooth Corp. has added educational media to its Web sites and relied on old-fashioned penny pinching.

Smooth Corp., based in Bellevue, Wash., was founded by Steve Simonson, chairman and chief executive officer, in 1998. Simonson, who works in front of three monitors and claims to spend almost every...

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