A Growing Family Business

1930 - Ara Sergenian founded Sergenian’s Floor Coverings in 1930, serving as Madison’s premier oriental rug dealer with its original storefront located on Monroe Street.

1948 - Sergenian’s acquired its first delivery truck in 1948 to haul rugs and carpet during the week, and family to church on Sundays.

1962- Ara sells the business to his sons Marsh, Ron and Paul, who maintained Sergenian’s commitment to excellence and dedication to customer service.

1963 - Former CEO Jim Garner was the first non-family member to join the Sergenian’s team as a carpet mover. After more than sixty years with the company, Jim is considered part of the Sergenian’s family and award-winning legacy.

Finding a Permanent Home

1966 & 1971 - A fire destroyed the State Street location, which had opened in 1962 and focused to wall-to-wall carpeting. Causing $250,000 in damages, Sergenian's temporarily moved to Lakeside Street as they built their current showroom on the West Beltline. This new location also suffered a fire, in 1971.

1967 - Sergenian’s retail showroom moves to its current home at Todd Drive and the Beltline, located at 2801 W. Beltline Hwy. in Madison. At the time of its grand opening, this location was considered to be on the “outskirts” of Madison.

1972 - Tom Sergenian, Ron’s son, started working part-time for the family business in 1972 and now serves as the current President. Sergenian’s continues the rich family tradition with the emergence of the fourth generation of business leaders, including Tom’s sons, Nick and Luke Sergenian, and his nephew, Wesley Endres.

1976 - Sergenian’s stays on top of new flooring trends with carpet styles featured deep pile shags, bold designs, and heavily sculptured patterns. Shag and brightly-colored carpet were huge innovations in the 1970s as color television opened up a whole new world to satisfy America’s color palette, which included avocado green, burnt orange, and brown.

Adding Brands and Building Partnerships

2000 - Sergenian’s remodels the current west side store as it grows the brand to include imported rugs, as well as well-known carpet brands like Mohawk and Karastan, hardwood, laminate, luxury vinyl products, tile and even countertops.

This is also the year Sergenian’s joins Flooring America, a cooperative of more than 500 independent flooring stores in North America that work together to invest in their communities, sustain family business, and strengthen local economies.

2005 – Commercial business proves successful, with Sergenian’s winning two 2005 national StarNet Design awards for commercial installation at the Overture Center for the Performing Arts, receiving grand prize recognition for creative use of flooring and meeting client objectives.

New Locations and Facility Upgrades

2006 - Jim Garner earns the National Leadership Award given by Flooring America, a cooperative of flooring experts.

2007 - Sergenian’s starts Wisconsin’s first and only comprehensive carpet reclamation program, partnering with Reynold’s Urethane Recyclying in Madison. Since the inception of this program we have diverted over 20.5 million pounds of carpet and padding from local landfills.

Our sustainability efforts have been recognized both nationally (Mohawk Greenworks Award), as well as locally (InBusiness Magazine Sustainability Award), and we continue to pursue new sustainable initiatives. Since 2010, in coordination with UW Housing, we have recycled nearly 300,000 pounds of used dormitory carpet and padding that had been otherwise destined for landfills.

New Locations, Facility Upgrades and Accolades

2011 - Sergenian’s acquires Florida-based G. Fried Flooring America, with one location in Tampa and one in Sarasota.

2012 - Jim Garner is inducted into the InBusiness Hall of Fame for Sergenian’s industry-leading sustainability initiatives and his active involvement in civic organizations. Throughout his career, Garner has been involved in several community and national organizations and has served on various boards, including the South Metropolitan Planning Council, where he spearheaded Park Street’s revitalization, the Villager Mall plan, and the Todd Drive-Beltline project.

2016 - Sergenian’s moves its distribution center, commercial sales and installation services to an upgraded facility at 3812 Kipp Street in Madison. The move provided access to both the Beltline to better serve Madison and its surrounding communities and the Interstate for easy access to Milwaukee. This building was specifically designed by the Sergenian’s team to meet current company needs and plan for future expansion.

2016 - Garner is awarded the inaugural Ground Floor Award by the for Madison Chamber of Commerce, celebrating individuals who move their business and community development efforts forward. Garner is the inaugural recipient of this award.