Celebrating 70 years of business with the Guhde family
By Patricia Nugent
Whether you identify as a baby boomer, millennial, or Gen X, Y or Z, every generation brings with it a singular set of values shaped by the times they were reared in, looking to the future through their own telescope yet holding a reverence for the generations that came before them.
Guhde Flooring America is on its third generation. As a family-run, family-proud business, together they’ve weathered the good times and the bad, expansion and growth, rising competition from big box stores and the occasional economic downturn.
When patriarch Donald Guhde hung his modest shingle over a flooring store in Euclid in 1957, he held his own hopes for his family’s future and their slice of the American dream. Eisenhower was in the White House, a gallon of gas cost 24 cents, and the number one song the bobby-socked kids on the corner were singing was “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley.
In ‘76, when Donald’s son Michael grew up and married Diane, who also worked in the showroom, it was a natural that together they would continue working toward and expanding upon Donald’s dream. They welcomed a girl and boy, Monica and Mike Jr. In the late ‘80s, to keep up with the store’s explosive growth, they built and moved to a larger showroom in Painesville.
As soon as they graduated from college, both Monica and Mike joined the company.
In 2018, the family opened the Kitchen & Bath Design Center within the showroom, providing inspiration on all the latest and greatest in cabinets, countertops, lighting and more.
“We all want to do things differently than our parents,” says Mike Jr. “We take their advice and always try to do things better, finding ways to evolve to best serve our customers. But when new customers say their parents or grandparents sent them to us because we took such great care of them decades ago, well, that’s pretty cool.”
So much has changed over the past 63 years. In flooring, customers have gone from wanting only linoleum or hardwood flooring to tile and luxury vinyl tile. Durability has become the new frontier. Flooring bought today will look better longer than ever before.
“Like our parents and grandparents, we’re always looking for the next big thing, and take pride in bringing it to our loyal customers,” says Monica.
The next big thing of the moment is large-format porcelain wall slabs. Fresh from Europe, this hot decor trend lets homeowners punch up the personality of any room by transforming a boring white wall into anything from frescoes of birch trees to a watercolor cityscape of Venice. Look for panel samples to be featured in the showroom this spring.
Although so much has changed, today when you walk through the showroom door, you’ll be greeted with much the same warmth and authenticity you would have been back in the 1950s. Grandfather Donald would be proud.
Guhde Flooring America is located at 1880 Mentor Avenue in Painesville Township. Call 440-639-1990 or visit GuhdeFlooringAmerica.com.