Porter’s enjoying new space

Porter’s Flooring & More LLC made the move to First Street from Heritage Parkway in August.

Owner Jason Porter said the new space has more square footage and more office space than the old store.

“The space before had the shop in the back and the showroom up front. The showroom was a little tight, a little harder to walk through and didn’t have the display floors on the floor so people could see bigger samples of some floorings,” Porter said.

In the new space, he was able to display different types of flooring across the showroom and offer more variety with the display pieces. Porter found the space after IMED moved out and he was called to measure the area for new flooring so they could lease it out. After asking some questions, he decided to lease the space himself.

With his warehouse a couple of blocks away, the new store is more convenient. He has his own office and his secretary and sales staff have their own offices.

Porter has been in Tea since 2012. The business offers carpet, vinyl, wood floors, laminates, ceramic tile and luxury vinyl and tile planks. They also offer tile backsplashes and can install walk-in tile showers and tub surrounds.

Walk-in tile showers have been growing in popularity in the last couple of years.

“Full tile showers have been a trend for the last couple years. It used to be higher-end houses were the first to get the tile walk-in showers, but now you’re seeing that in the median new homes,” Porter said. “It’s almost a standard now. People like the spa look and feel. It’s easy maintenance and they last a long time.”

As for flooring, Porter said carpet is still popular and they have a lot of different varieties of carpet. For awhile, three-quarter inch solid hardwood floor was popular. Now, more people are installing an engineered real wood floor.

He also said laminates have come a long way.

“A while back, they looked fake, sounded fake, but they are coming out with thicker, more realistic patterns where sometimes you can’t tell whether it’s a laminate or real wood,” Porter said.

He has been enjoying the new space and it being a little closer to downtown.

“I think people see the storefront here a little better here than the old spot. The exposure’s good. I like to be in Tea,” Porter said. “The town’s treated us pretty well. We get a lot of people that stop here just to keep it local. We enjoy doing that.”