Robert Ellis has been in the flooring industry since 2005. Ellis began flooring by working with a friend who has a construction business. In 2007, Ellis began doing flooring independently all year long. In 2018, Robert opened his first store in Florence, SC. Robert knew getting into the flooring business would provide a good income. Ellis explained how his stores came about: he had tendinitis in his elbow, and his doctors wanted to take him out of work. Ellis came up with the idea of opening a store so he’d be able to rest his arm without doing labor for a short amount of time. Robert opened his store and took the first two weeks off, giving his elbow time to heal.
“I didn’t have plans on opening a store,” said Robert “It was a roll of a dice.”
Opening the store was a huge success for Ellis; he is constantly busy installing flooring. In April of 2021, Ellis opened his second store in Manning, SC. Many people in the Santee area would call about getting flooring, Ellis knew by adding another store in Manning customers could travel closer instead of picking up their flooring in Florence.
“I knew this would be a great area to start because no one in the area offers these services,” said Ellis.
Robert’s mother works in his Manning store while his grandmother works his store in Florence. Ellis is the only person who installs flooring at his company.
“I want everything done right,” said Robert. “As long as I’m doing it, it is being done right.”
Robert travels mostly anywhere his customers need their flooring done. He’s travelled to many of his customers’ vacation houses near the beaches and in other states.
“I don’t have a limit, I’ll go wherever my customer needs me,” said Robert.
The most popular flooring in Robert’s stores is 100% waterproof flooring. This flooring has been 95% of the sales sold in the Manning store. Ellis has many proud moments as a businessman. One moment that sticks out to him was the last year of 2020. Robert won all of the bids to get the job installing the flooring in Thermo Fisher, which is a huge plant located in the Florence area. Robert is very proud of all of his hard work and accomplishments he has made and pursued at his age.
