The Story Behind Edmonton's Largest In-Stock Flooring Selection
Flooring Superstores has been part of Edmonton since 1992. What started as four brothers with a better idea about how to sell flooring has grown into one of the largest in-stock flooring operations in Canada. The idea is the same as it was on day one. The inventory is considerably larger.
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How Flooring Superstores Started
- In 1992, four Ortynski brothers opened Carpet Direct Outlets in Edmonton. They had all spent years in the flooring industry, and they kept running into the same problem: customers waiting two or three weeks for products a well-run store should have had on the shelf. The order-and-wait model was standard. That didn't mean it was good.
- Their solution was to buy in volume directly from manufacturers, skip the middlemen, and keep everything in stock. Better prices. Better availability. No waiting. It was an advantage that competitors couldn't easily match on either front, and it became the foundation everything else was built on.
- By 1997 the business was thriving and Carpet Superstores was born. For the next 21 years, the name was everywhere in Edmonton, backed by a face most Edmontonians recognized immediately: Oiler great Craig Simpson. Over that time, the company invested more than five million dollars making Carpet Superstores a household name across the city.
- Then came the harder decision. Flooring trends were shifting away from carpet and toward hard surfaces, and a name built around carpet wasn't telling the whole story anymore. In 2018, after more than two decades, they made the call to become Flooring Superstores. Walking away from that kind of name recognition wasn't easy. It was the right move.
- Today both stores are still family-run, with the second generation of the Ortynski family at the helm. Each location is individually owned and operated. The philosophy hasn't changed since the beginning.
The Team Behind Your Floors
Between both locations, Flooring Superstores runs 16 people: six flooring consultants, a warehouse employee, and an owner-operator at each store. It's a focused team, and the depth of experience across it is genuinely hard to match.
Most of the sales staff have been with the company for over 10 years. Several have been here for more than 30. On any given day at either location, the people helping you have a combined total of well over 100 years in the flooring industry.
When new products come in, manufacturer reps come in to walk the team through them. But most of what our consultants know comes from decades of hands-on experience helping real customers solve real problems. There's no shortcut to that kind of knowledge.
Installation works the same way. The crews we work with are independent contractors, and most of them have been working with us for more than 10 years. Some for over 30. The trade is learned from one experienced installer to the next, and the people we recommend have proven themselves over years of real work. When we send someone to your home, we know exactly who we're sending.
Our In-Stock Philosophy
The in-stock model was the whole point from day one, and it's still how the business runs. Carpet, vinyl plank, laminate, linoleum, and more arrive on a continuous basis, with containers coming in weekly. Combined inventory across both showrooms and the head office warehouse runs close to two million square feet. That level of stock isn't incidental. It's the entire strategy.
What gets stocked follows a clear logic. Popular styles across all price ranges are always on hand, whether you need something for your own renovation or something practical for a rental property. Higher-end specialty items, like premium hardwoods, wool carpets, and custom-order products, are available on request. Those aren't the kind of products you carry in volume, so they're handled differently.
Anything that's been on the floor too long moves to clearance and finds a new home. The goal is inventory that turns regularly, and that discipline is also what keeps the pricing competitive.
The real cost of ordering and waiting isn't always obvious until your trades are standing around mid-renovation. Three to six weeks is a long time when your project is already in motion. In-stock means that problem doesn't exist.
Scale That Serves You Better
At the south location on 75 Street alone, there's approximately 250,000 sq. ft. of carpet, 250,000 sq. ft. of vinyl plank, 50,000 sq. ft. of laminate, and 50,000 sq. ft. of linoleum in stock at any given time. Each location carries over 600,000 sq. ft. of product, with additional inventory at the head office warehouse. Total across both stores and the warehouse: close to two million square feet.
250,000sq.ftCarpet
250,000sq.ftVinyl Plank
50,000sq.ftLaminate
50,000sq.ftLinoleum
2,000,000sq.ftTotal Inventory Across 2 Locations & Warehouse
Flooring Superstores works with over 60 suppliers. That's a wide enough network that getting a new supplier through the door is genuinely difficult. Unless the product is right, the price is right, and the team behind it is one we want to work with long-term, it doesn't make it in. The focus has always been on products we'd actually recommend, not just products we can sell.
The project volume runs into the thousands every year, across everything from a 20 sq. ft. powder room update to a commercial installation over 11,000 sq. ft. Both locations built long-standing records with the Better Business Bureau over the years. Today Google reviews tell the story more than any formal accreditation does, and we'll let those speak for themselves.
Big Box vs. Independent vs. Us
Big Box
At a big box store, flooring is one department among dozens. The staff are generalists, the inventory is managed from a head office somewhere else, and lead times are whatever the supply chain says they are that week. It's not a bad option for a small, simple job, but it's a frustrating one for anything more involved.
Independent
At most independent flooring retailers, you get better product knowledge and more personal service. What you usually don't get is the same depth of in-stock inventory. Independent stores typically run a showroom model, showing samples and ordering in for their customers. The wait time is shorter than a big box, but it's still a wait.
Flooring Superstores
The difference here is that Flooring Superstores operates closer to a distribution centre than a traditional showroom. The inventory is here, on the floor, ready to go. The expertise has been built over more than 30 years. You're not choosing between price and service or between speed and selection. You get all of it.
How We Do Business
The approach hasn't changed much since 1992. Buy well, stock it properly, price it fairly, and help people find what's genuinely right for their space and budget. Not the cheapest option. Not the easiest sale. What will still make sense five years from now.
A lot of the customers and contractors who come in have been coming for years. Some have been dealing with the same staff members for the better part of two decades. That kind of loyalty doesn't happen by accident. It's built through straightforward, honest transactions and the kind of product knowledge that only comes from doing this for a long time.
Every installation is quoted with costs broken down line by line: installation, removal, disposal, subfloor prep, stairs, furniture, appliances, all of it itemized before any work begins. No surprises at the end of the job. When something doesn't go right, the approach is simple: deal with it and fix it. Every installation we do carries a full one-year workmanship warranty, and we stand behind it.
We're an Edmonton business, and that matters to how we operate. The staff live here, the installers work here, and the customers are our neighbours. We have a long-term stake in this city's homes and the reputation we've built in them. After more than 30 years in Edmonton, that's not something we take lightly.