American Wood Flooring Outfits Your Home With The Hottest Trends

Andy Dunning is holding Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring, which he says is the hottest product in flooring, due to its durability and quality. (Photo: Andy Warrener)

American Wood Flooring has been operating as a family business for more than 25 years. It began as a small storefront in New Port Richey, selling wood flooring exclusively. The showroom in the Super Target-anchored Northwood Plaza in Wesley Chapel opened 12 years ago.

CEO Andy Dunning has always kept on top of the latest trends and products in the flooring business. While American Wood Flooring has stayed true to its roots, still offering traditional carpet, wood, tile and laminate options, Dunning says the product dominating the floor covering market these days is Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) flooring. 

“In July, we did 33 installs just out of our New Tampa store, and 25 of them were LVP,” Dunning says. “Vinyl plank could make laminate products obsolete.” 

Dunning says that LVP flooring has only been available for about a year-and-a-half, but the product is dominating the market, and for good reason.

Why LVP?

Dunning says the number one reason is durability, which breaks down into three aspects: LVP is waterproof, dent-proof and scratch-resistant. 

And, LVP floors are 100-percent waterproof. This is huge for Floridians, who often have swimming pools or pets and endure sometimes torrential rainfall in the late summer and fall months. LVP’s high-density material is nearly impossible to dent and its uniform consistency makes it extremely scratch-resistant. 

“LVP is different than most flooring in that there are no wood particles, and no glue,” Dunning says. “It’s a lock-and-fold system. There is some subfloor prep but it’s minimal.”

Even big old Bentley — one of Andy and Sara Dunning’s two Great Danes — can’t damage the LVP floor in the Dunnings’ home.

A high-quality and waterproof floor covering? What’s not to like? LVP floors are waterproof for a couple of reasons. 

One, they are not made from wood. LVP floor panels are made from a PVC-type material. There’s never any swelling or cracking. 

Second, even if moisture somehow gets past the tight lock-and-fold system, the attached padding is made from an anti-microbial melamine material. The melamine material comes attached to the LVP panels and leaves no air pocket between the panels and the sub floor, as laminate flooring does. 

Waterproofing aside, LVP floors are some of the most durable on the market. There are currently only three mills in the world that have patent rights to produce LVP’s Rigid Core material. 

“The material in the Rigid Core is much more dense than the material used in the cores five to 10 years ago,” Dunning says. “I have two great Danes and I can tell you that my LVP floor is close to being indestructible.”

Animals large and small will find it nearly impossible to scratch the LVP floor. “We have two pugs that go up and down the stairs a lot and we have not seen any marks anywhere,” American Wood Flooring customer and Land O’ Lakes resident Kurt Kraemer says. 

Competitive Pricing 

Thanks in large part to the ease of installation, LVP floors can be installed at very competitive prices, when compared with other flooring.

And, through the months of August and September, American Wood Flooring is offering complete installation of LVP flooring for as little as $4.99 per square foot. Hardwood floors can cost as much as $17-$18 per square foot and don’t offer anywhere near the durability that LVP does. 

Dunning currently has four different styles/colors to choose from: Windsor, Blarney, Conway and Edinburgh. Samples can be viewed either in Dunning’s showroom or on the web at FlooringForFlorida.com. 

LVP is popular and trendy, but American Wood Flooring carries many different types of flooring to fit every need and desire.

Top-To-Bottom Service

American Wood Flooring doesn’t just throw the floor down and leave. The company is there for every step of the process. Dunning offers a free in-home consultation where he brings samples to your home, takes measurements and is able to give a very accurate quote.

“I had my whole house done — bedrooms, bathrooms, closets — and it all looks really nice and the whole process was really smooth,” Kraemer says. “We even had the stairs done and it finishes off the place very nicely. We were very happy with the work; they even put all the furniture back in place where it was.”

Kraemer also was pleased with how the work design allowed him to still utilize his home during a complete floor replacement.

“They did the important areas first,” Kraemer said. “They did the bedrooms first, so I wasn’t inconvenienced much. I was so grateful for this, coming home from work and being able to use my house.”

Even if you’re just trying to sell your home, a new LVP floor might be the clincher in helping make that sale. 

“We had the LVP product installed in a home we were revamping to sell,” local Realtor Cherry Norris says. “Andy came over and was very professional. We checked other pricing and his quote was better for LVP flooring, plus some carpet. We were all happy with the price and the quality of material. It totally changed the look of the house and the house sold to the first buyer that saw it. The buyers really liked the way it looked and felt. It’s a tight installation with no gaps. The clients loved the color and said it looked like real wood planks.”

American Wood Flooring stays on top of the emerging technologies in the industry and offers first-rate service at premium pricing, while still offering a list of traditional flooring options. The company even offers Bloomin’ Brands gift cards (good at Outback, Bonefish and Carrabas) to clients who refer friends and family. 

American Wood Flooring’s Wesley Chapel showroom is located at 1285 BBD Blvd. and is open Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sat., and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sun. For more info, visit FlooringforFlorida.com, call (813) 991-7999 or see the ad on page 42.

Prime Rx Pharmacy Fills Your Prescriptions With A Personal Touch!

Vikas Ghiya and his wife, Harsha, are long-time New Tampa residents who recently moved Prime Rx Pharmacy from Seminole in Pinellas County closer to home on Cross Creek Blvd.

Prime Rx Pharmacy in the Cross Creek Center plaza on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa has only been open for three months, but owner Vikas Ghiya, R.Ph. (Registered Pharmacist) is a long-time New Tampa resident who was happy to bring his business home to his neighborhood.

Ghiya has worked as a pharmacist since 1992, first for Eckerd, then Publix. In 2009, he established Prime Rx Pharmacy in Seminole, in Pinellas County, in partnership with others who opened other Prime Rx pharmacies in St. Petersburg and Riverview.

When the partnership dissolved in 2012, Ghiya kept his Seminole location open while he commuted from New Tampa. Recently, his landlord notified him that he needed to move the pharmacy, so he decided to relocate all the way to New Tampa, cutting 3 hours a day out of his commute. He says he now travels less than three miles each way to work.

Vikas has been married to his wife, Harsha, for 32 years. Harsha manages the office and billing for the pharmacy, and also has a license as a pharmacy technician, so she can help her husband with that part of the business when needed.

Currently the staff also includes Joseph Ortiz, who is Prime Rx’s primary pharmacy  tech, and Ghiya says the staff prides itself on being both fast and accurate, plus going above and beyond what is typical at a corporate pharmacy/chain drug store.

“Here, customer service is a priority,” explains Ghiya. “We often recognize our customers and welcome them by name.”

While Ghiya is quick to say he would never criticize a fellow pharmacist, he says in a corporate environment, pharmacists generally are simply too busy to offer such personalized service.

Not so at Prime Rx Pharmacy.

In India, Ghiya says he was educated in Ayurvedic medicine, which is a holistic healing system developed more than 3,000 years ago. Ghiya earned a doctorate degree and practiced Ayurveda in India until 1988, when he moved to the United States. He explains that in the U.S., his doctorate in Ayurveda is not recognized.

So, Ghiya enrolled at St. John’s University in Queens, NY, and received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy in 1992. Then, he moved to Florida.

“Even back then, corporate pharmacy was looking at quantity, not quality,” he says. Instead, he chose to be an independent pharmacist.

“This way, I get to spend more time with each patient,” he says, using both his pharmacological training and physiological training from India.

The Prime Rx Difference

Whether medicine is needed in a hurry or it’s just your regular prescription, Prime Rx Pharmacy will deliver it to your home (provided it is within a certain distance from the pharmacy) at no charge. 

“We offer free delivery,” says Ghiya. “If the kids are sick and Mom can’t leave the house, we deliver.”

In fact, Ghiya says closing his pharmacy in Seminole hasn’t meant losing all of those patients as customers. He says that Prime Rx Pharmacy still delivers medications to Seminole twice a week.

“However, some come to this pharmacy,” says Harsha. “They say, ‘you drove to us for 10 years, now we can drive to you once a month.’”

The pharmacy also offers compounding, such as mixing creams for male and female hormones. Each patient requires a completely custom tailoring of estrogen, progesterone and/or testosterone, which must be done in a compounding pharmacy such as Prime Rx.

Prime Rx Pharmacy also provides compounding for veterinary medicines when needed for your dog or cat.

And, it offers free flavorings in certain medications, which is especially popular in some antibiotics for kids.

In addition to prescriptions, the pharmacy also carries durable medical equipment (DME) for sale, and some items are also available for rent, such as wheelchairs, canes and more. 

Prime Rx also sells oil diffusers and essential oils, such as lavender and jasmine, to help people with sleep issues or anxiety, as well as CBD oil.

“We carry a broad spectrum of over-the-counter medicines and specialty vitamins, too,” says Ghiya, including the brands Pure and Ortho, which he says are high-quality vitamins. 

“They work better and are absorbed better,” he explains. “You cannot find this stuff in Walmart, CVS or Walgreens.”

He says he and his staff also are happy to counsel patients on the best vitamins, especially when they are taking prescription medications.

Custom Pill Packaging

Prime Rx Pharmacy also offers customized pill packaging, with medications sorted by the day and time a patient should take it. This is especially helpful for people who are chronically ill and take several medications at different times throughout the day.

“Instead of opening three or four different bottles, patients just open one blister pack,” Ghiya explains. “It helps the patient not to miss any pills. We count and make sure they get the exact dosage they need.”

At Prime Rx Pharmacy on Cross Creek Blvd., owner/pharmacist Vikas Ghiya is happy to help patients who have to take multiple medications every day. These blister packs divide your meds by when they need to be taken, marked with the day and time, to reduce the instances of patients forgetting to take their medication or accidentally taking more medication than they need.

He tells the story of one patient he recently helped with this type of packaging. “She took 18 medications, some once a day, some four times a day,” he explains. “That means she’s opening bottles 20-30 times a day. Instead, we give her a blister pack, and each one says which date and time to take it, so she knows if she missed a dose.”

Nine months later, he says that the patient’s health has improved.

“Her doctor asked her what she was doing to improve her health, and she said, ‘My pharmacist helped me,’” Ghiya says. “It’s because she’s not missing doses or taking extra doses.”

Now, he adds, she’s only on 12 meds and some of those are at reduced dosages.

Taking Time With Patients

“We like to make it fun and make people laugh when they come here,” Ghiya says. “People come in from the doctor and they’ve already waited and waited.”

Often, they’re stressed because they’ve received a bad diagnosis, so Ghiya and his staff always offer a listening ear, comfort and moral support.

“One patient moved here from New York and her daughter is diabetic and needs a particular insulin,” explains Ghiya. “She doesn’t have a car and was able to walk in to our pharmacy. Within two days, we took care of everything and delivered her special order to her. She said it was a totally different experience than at other pharmacies.”

He says the mom was nervous about using a syringe to give her daughter insulin, so he taught her how to use an insulin pen instead of a syringe.

“It’s easier to use and more accurate,” Ghiya explains. “We sat with her for 45 minutes to help her. We’re happy to do that.”

Prime Rx Pharmacy is located at 10010 Cross Creek Blvd. at Kinnan St. It is open Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. For more information, visit PrimeRxPharmacy.com or call (813) 955-7777.

Debbie Demboski Celebrates 30 Years Of Decorating Your Dens (& More!)

In 2019, Decorating Den Interiors is celebrating 50 years in business.

Tampa Bay-area franchise owner and decorator Debbie Demboski has been a Decorating Den franchisee since 1989. She is proud to be celebrating 30 years in business herself, as one of the company’s longest-tenured representatives. 

She says Decorating Den continues to be successful because clients appreciate that the business comes to them with a completely free consultation and no hourly fees, whether you want to update a room, a piece of furniture, your window treatments, or redecorate your entire home from top to bottom.

“There are not a lot of 50-year-old companies,” says Debbie, especially as home design businesses seem to be contracting because so many people now turn to online shopping. “But, Decorating Den is growing, and the last couple of years have been really tremendous for us.”

Debbie says one of the biggest benefits of working with Decorating Den is that her design studio gets parked right in your driveway.

Stocked full of samples of fabrics and colors, the Decorating Den van at your home or office means your designer will help you choose how to decorate your interior space while standing inside and looking at that very space.

That’s something online shopping just can’t do.

“So many people have a vision and get excited, purchase something and bring it home, before realizing that it just doesn’t work,” says Debbie. “Having a professional opinion can actually save you time and money. I will come to you and assist you in picking out something that not only fits your style and budget, but also works perfectly in your space.”

Debbie has a Bachelor of Arts degree in design and business from West Virginia University in Morgantown. She says she got into the interior decorating business when she was living and working in Atlanta and a friend became a Decorating Den franchise owner. Debbie went to work as a decorator for that business and, soon after, started her own franchise.

Debbie’s daughter, Sara McKenzie, has been her partner for the last five years. 

“Sara takes most of our new clients and has built her clientele to where she is now getting repeat business and referrals, as well,” Debbie says.

Sara and Debbie admit that their biggest competitor today is the online shopping craze, but once people try working with Decorating Den, they realize how much better it is than the trial-and-error process of buying online themselves.

“Every now and again, maybe the best product is from one of those online sites,” Debbie says. “But, Decorating Den has such vast product lines and we know the quality, size and proportion of all of those products.”

Decorating Den offers a “good, better, and best” mix of product lines to meet every budget.

“A decorator can help you so much versus doing it yourself,” Debbie says.

Why Decorating Den?

While other designers charge an hourly fee for their time, Decorating Den does things differently. Debbie says the reasons why her clients love working with Decorating Den are outlined in the following “NIFTY” benefits:

•N-National umbrella: Decorating Den has the buying power of a national company.

•I-In-home decorating: Design decisions are made in your home, in your existing lighting, working with what you already own.

•F-Free consultation: Not only do Debbie and Sara come to you, there is no cost for the consultation and never any hourly fees for their time.

•T-Training: Decorating Den provides opportunities for decorators to constantly update their skills and learn about the latest trends through conferences and working with other franchise owners in the region.

•Y-Your lifestyle: Your likes, dislikes and budget are Debbie and Sara’s highest priority, to be sure that your home reflects your personal taste — not theirs.

Jennifer Pressley became a client of Debbie’s when she lived in Apollo Beach and hired Debbie to decorate her home as her budget allowed — one room at a time.

When the Pressleys moved to FishHawk Ranch in Lithia just a few months ago, they immediately hired Debbie to begin decorating their new home, too.

“She’s amazing,” says Jennifer. “She really understands how to ask the right questions and get the feel of how you want to decorate the house. Coming into this house, I had no clue where to start.”

One of the first rooms they decided to tackle was Jennifer’s daughter’s bedroom. Jennifer says Debbie had to endure the 11-year-old saying, “No, I don’t like that,” to many, many options.

“Debbie’s so patient,” says Jennifer, explaining that she didn’t get frustrated, but just kept looking until she found the absolutely perfect curtains for the room.

Jennifer says that when she originally was looking for help to decorate her former home, she talked with several designers who charged $100 per hour for a consultation. “Debbie doesn’t do that,” Jennifer says. “The consultation is free and then her fee is ‘hidden’ in the cost of what you purchase.”

That’s why Jennifer says she has recommended Decorating Den Interiors to her friends. She loves working with Debbie because, she says, “She’s not pushy, she’s not expensive, and she works with you on a budget.”

Franchises Throughout Central Florid

For the past 25 years, Debbie also has owned the regional Decorating Den territory license and can sell franchises from coast to coast in the central part of Florida.

“I just sold a franchise on the east coast,” says Debbie. “The new franchise owner is currently in corporate training. I’ll help her set up her business, go with her to her first few appointments, help her with marketing ideas and do ongoing training.”

In fact, Debbie says, franchise opportunities are available right here in the Tampa Bay area, too.

“There’s a new subdivision every time you blink,” says Debbie.

While Debbie and Sara currently cover everywhere from Odessa to the west to Thonotosassa in the east, and Wesley Chapel to the north to Lithia in the south, Debbie says that’s a large enough geographic area that could easily support a new franchise.

Debbie also offers her expertise, at no cost, to groups who are looking for a unique guest speaker.

“We constantly do free workshops,” explains Debbie. “One of my most popular talks is on decorating for the holidays. We can show before-and-after pictures, trends and talk about products.”

She says groups of Realtors, homeowners associations or any group looking for a guest speaker is welcome to reach out to her.

Decorating Den Interiors comes to you at your home or office in Wesley Chapel or New Tampa for an absolutely free consultation. For more information, call Debbie at (813) 982-2820 or visit DecDens.com/DebbieD.