Off the floor

Wayne Wiles isn't afraid of flying the rickety prop planes that land at one of the most treacherous airports in the Caribbean.

The airport on the tiny island of St. Bart's is so dangerous that the wheels of airplanes sometimes hit the top of cars parked at the top of the hill on the approach overlooking the runway (search videos on YouTube to view the hair-raising landings for yourself).

A photo of a plane landing at St. Bart's hangs in Wiles' office and it's is an appropriate image for the turbulence that his family's business has experienced in recent years. Wayne Wiles Floor Coverings endured the real estate collapse, when sales fell a stomach-churning 50% for two years in a row.

But the business is taking off again as the economy recovers, a reflection of the wild economic swings of boom and bust that have marked Florida's history. Mohawk, the multibillion-dollar floor-covering manufacturer, recently named Wayne Wiles Floor Coverings the top retailer in the nation for its exclusive ColorCenter label, beating out 1,122 other retailers.

Besides outstanding sales performance, Reggie Newton, regional vice president with Mohawk, says Wayne Wiles' son, Mark, had the vision to expand the business by buying three Hessler Floor Covering stores in 2010, at a time when the economic recovery wasn't evident.

“His vision is obvious,” says Newton. “He made big investments in the company during the downturn and that is taken into account.”

But Mark Wiles made an even gutsier move just two years earlier by purchasing the flooring business from his father, Wayne, in October 2008. That was one month after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the U.S. financial system seemed on the brink of collapse.

“We never had any thoughts about closing the business,” says Mark Wiles, 50, the president of the company. Mark Wiles' two older brothers, Steve and John Wiles, also work in the business.

And just last summer, Wayne Wiles opened a new 25,000-square-foot building on U.S. 41 in Fort Myers. The new location includes a 14,000-square-foot showroom, a design gallery, a warehouse and a room in which community groups can meet.

Like every real estate-related business that struggled through the downturn, Wiles laid off staff. “We adjusted based on staff,” says Wayne Wiles, who started the business in 1985 with two business partners and grew the company to 86 full-time employees in 2006. By the end of 2008, Wayne Wiles Floor Coverings had 28 employees.

Still, the company had no long-term debt and the family made the tough decisions to save the company by controlling expenses. “We never had a month that we lost money,” Wiles says.

In addition, it didn't venture further afield than Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties. “We didn't feel like we could handle it properly,” says Wayne Wiles, acknowledging that customers during the boom wanted the company to expand to Sarasota and beyond. But he resisted the expansionist urge. “That's been one of the keys to our success,” he says.

Mark and Wayne Wiles decline to cite revenues, but they say growth started coming back in 2010 by a few percentage points. By 2013, annual-percentage sales growth was in the “low teens.”

Wayne Wiles started the business doing commercial work, but shifted to residential during the boom. By 2006, residential business accounted for more than 80% of sales, boosted by strong margins.

Now, Mark and Wayne Wiles say they aim to strike more of a balance between their retail business, residential and commercial construction. “We'll try to keep a nice blend,” says Mark Wiles.