Kelly's Flooring is a Second Generation Family Business

The Murphy family started their flooring business over 30 years ago in St. Louis, and moved their shop to Jefferson County in 1989. They built a warehouse next to their home on Little Antire Road, in an area more typical of horse farms. Kelly Murphy said the business didn’t need a high traffic location because her parents had built a strong customer base on word of mouth alone.

Kelly Murphy and her younger brother Tom are the second generation of Murphy’s to operate the flooring business. Their parents are semi-retired, but still have a hand in the store’s operation. Larry Murphy, their dad, is a co-owner, while their mom Elke helps in the showroom.

Today the store is called , after the Murphy’s daughter, but it wasn’t always that way.

Elke Murphy said that when she and her husband started the family business back in 1978 it was named Murphy’s. After 21 years of selling carpet and tile, Elke and Larry decided to retire and sold the business—name and all. After a few years the new owners moved to a more suburban area, abandoning the old shop. The Murphy’s still owned the building, but couldn’t find a new renter.

Elke Murphy said her daughter didn’t like the old shop standing vacant and decided to revive the family business in 2003. By this time Kelly had graduated from Webster University with a business degree and had worked a few years in the corporate world.

“I worked here throughout high school and college,” said Kelly. She admits she didn’t plan on running the store when she grew up, but being her own boss looked more appealing after working for a big corporation as an analyst.

The only problem was that the Murphy’s name now adorned a competitor’s shop.

The reborn business was dubbed “Kelly’s” and Kelly Murphy took the helm.

“We just recently expanded the showroom, it used to be drastically smaller,” she said. She joked that the old showroom was so small, it became crowded with only two customers shopping. Now they have room to display all the styles of carpeting, tile, vinyl, laminate and hardwood flooring they sell.

“The majority of our business are homeowners putting new floors in their houses,” she said. Carpet is their most popular product, but Kelly said that luxury vinyl is growing in popularity.

“It’s a nice alternative to sheet vinyl and it looks like tile or stone,” she said.

They also do business with contractors, apartment complexes, schools and with realtors looking to freshen up a home they have listed.

“We pride ourselves on our customer service and quality installation,” she said.

Kelly said that one advantage of their location is the low overhead and that they pass those savings onto their customers. Kelly’s Flooring is a full service flooring store that carries dozens of major brands. They offer design help and stock many popular products in their warehouse for quick installation.