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Joe Imel: “Good, solid growth is better than fast growth.”
Joe Imel is an all-American boy with Smartsville roots, a Slavic last name, and discipline cultivated from years of recreational Japanese Taiko drumming.
In keeping with that globe-trotting tradition, the longtime flooring contractor is tapping into the flavors of Mexico for a Cinco de Mayo grand opening party to welcome his new showroom in Penn Valley.
“People had trouble finding me,” said Imel, dressed in a cutoff shirt and baseball cap as he put the finishing touches on the interior of the new Imel Flooring & Hardwood Center building.
Formerly tucked in a storefront off Pleasant Valley Road, he recently moved into the Highway 20 Industrial Park, just west of Penn Valley Drive, to get better exposure from the road. With a building about twice the size of his old site, he's planning on spreading out his flooring samples and finally having space to display artwork by his wife, Lori, on the walls.
Though flooring showrooms rarely double as art galleries, he hopes his will be one to foster community.
For Imel, who serves as a director of the Penn Valley Chamber of Commerce, contributing to the community is important.
“It's full circle,” he said. “What goes around, comes around.”
Before he discovered the trade, Imel aspired to be a veterinarian. It wasn't long before he tired of school and eventually found work with a flooring contractor.
After years of working with other companies, he opened Imel Flooring in 2000. It's a family affair that sometimes involves his teenage son and daughter, who recorded radio spots for him.
They help with duties around the store, and his daughter, Morgan, even has worked jobs with him.
Business boomed in the early years, and Imel won an award from a national flooring association for a project at a retirement center in Davis.
But as the recession set in and construction work dried up, jobs became fewer and farther between.
“I've been through other downturns, but this was so much worse,” Imel said. “It made me look at things more realistically.”
Now he's singing a new, more cautious tune.
“Good, solid growth is better than fast growth,” he said.
The sawing, grouting and gluing of his business takes a certain type of person.
“It's hard, dirty work. It's not easy to do floors,” Imel said.
Yet the finished product of a remodel makes the dirty work worth it, and he's on a mission to make a difference — one square of tile and one roll of carpet at a time.
Flooring starts wearing out after about seven years, he said, but many people wait 20 to replace it.
“It starts eating at them. It's one of those things that bothers you,” Imel said. When the new floor goes in, “there's such a change in their whole psyche.”
Years after choosing flooring over veterinary work, he still thinks he made the right decision.
“I love it,” Imel said. “I still love this trade.”
To contact Staff Writer Michelle Rindels, e-mail mrindels@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4247.
In keeping with that globe-trotting tradition, the longtime flooring contractor is tapping into the flavors of Mexico for a Cinco de Mayo grand opening party to welcome his new showroom in Penn Valley.
“People had trouble finding me,” said Imel, dressed in a cutoff shirt and baseball cap as he put the finishing touches on the interior of the new Imel Flooring & Hardwood Center building.
Formerly tucked in a storefront off Pleasant Valley Road, he recently moved into the Highway 20 Industrial Park, just west of Penn Valley Drive, to get better exposure from the road. With a building about twice the size of his old site, he's planning on spreading out his flooring samples and finally having space to display artwork by his wife, Lori, on the walls.
Though flooring showrooms rarely double as art galleries, he hopes his will be one to foster community.
For Imel, who serves as a director of the Penn Valley Chamber of Commerce, contributing to the community is important.
“It's full circle,” he said. “What goes around, comes around.”
Before he discovered the trade, Imel aspired to be a veterinarian. It wasn't long before he tired of school and eventually found work with a flooring contractor.
After years of working with other companies, he opened Imel Flooring in 2000. It's a family affair that sometimes involves his teenage son and daughter, who recorded radio spots for him.
They help with duties around the store, and his daughter, Morgan, even has worked jobs with him.
Business boomed in the early years, and Imel won an award from a national flooring association for a project at a retirement center in Davis.
But as the recession set in and construction work dried up, jobs became fewer and farther between.
“I've been through other downturns, but this was so much worse,” Imel said. “It made me look at things more realistically.”
Now he's singing a new, more cautious tune.
“Good, solid growth is better than fast growth,” he said.
The sawing, grouting and gluing of his business takes a certain type of person.
“It's hard, dirty work. It's not easy to do floors,” Imel said.
Yet the finished product of a remodel makes the dirty work worth it, and he's on a mission to make a difference — one square of tile and one roll of carpet at a time.
Flooring starts wearing out after about seven years, he said, but many people wait 20 to replace it.
“It starts eating at them. It's one of those things that bothers you,” Imel said. When the new floor goes in, “there's such a change in their whole psyche.”
Years after choosing flooring over veterinary work, he still thinks he made the right decision.
“I love it,” Imel said. “I still love this trade.”
To contact Staff Writer Michelle Rindels, e-mail mrindels@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4247.
