HOLYOKE – The owner of a century-plus-old business has decided to close the business due to his retirement.

American Rug, owned by William Radner, will close down operations on April 15, Radner told Reminder Publishing.

The reason is simple: Radner wishes to retire. He noted that he is 72, still healthy and “wants to do something [else].”

He said he has been “very, very happy” with his business and that he has enjoyed working with his customers. Radner said he will miss those relationships.
Radner is the third generation of his family to operate the carpet and flooring business in Holyoke. His grandfather, also named William, started the company as a carpet and window cleaner in 1905. Radner’s father, the late Sidney Radner, at the end of World War II, expanded the business into selling carpets.

Radner explained the business developed a niche. “We’ve catered to a designer clientele,” he said and added the company’s product line is “good and better carpets, much better than builder grade.”

He noted, “There are people in our market who like nicer things.”

While the sale of the business is still a possibility, Radner explained the building has been sold.

Radner, himself has had 50 years of experience in carpets and flooring. “I know the floor covering from the ground up,” he said.

He started at age 16 attending a carpet cleaning school in Connecticut to start learning the business.

He worked with his father Sidney and started full-time at the company in 1972. Sidney was the president of the firm until 1989 when he retired and then William took over as president.

On the company’s website, Radner noted, “In the 1960’s American Rug laid out a huge green carpet made of Dupont 501 nylon on High Street in Holyoke for the St Patrick’s Day parade. Thousands of people and all the floats, cars and other motor vehicles drove over this large piece of carpet. American Rug planned to show how well the carpet could be cleaned (after the torture test) in their advanced cleaning plant. American Rug showed the comparison of a brand new piece of carpet against the soiled material that American Rug cleaned. The results were nothing less than outstanding.”

Radner prides himself on the knowledge about flooring he has acquired over his more than 50 years in the business. “Our customers are looking for expertise,” he said.

Radner noted that in big box home improvement stores, the person selling floor covering may have been selling refrigerators the day before.

He added, he has tried to provide value for his customers and said, “We’ve given them steak for the price of hamburger.”

He said the news of his retirement, caused some of his regular customers to start crying. Radner added he possibly might still work on commercial flooring jobs in his retirement.

Radner said, “I believe we have been the oldest family-run business in the floor covering field in the New England. If we’re not than we are very close to it.”