THE RUG GALLERY, 23 Northlink
Retail Park, Dundalk, Co Louth.
OUTSTANDING SMALL BUSINESS
Tel: 042 932 9851.
www.theruggallery.ie
The magic
carpet
SinceitsappearanceonDragons’Den,
TheRugGalleryhasspunoutto
introduceawiderangeofrugstothe
Irishmarketplace,customisingthem
tosuittheindividual
‘The wedding industry is
worth millions of euro every
year, so it’s a case of capitalising
on that and giving customers
a completely new and
innovative product’
Alicia Grills Grant and Brid Rutledge
F
OR budding entrepreneurs, landing a spot on it to be custom-made, usually in Katmandu. rior designer will call out to a client’s house, take measure-
Dragons’ Den would represent a once in a life- Grills Grant says it was sheer hard graft that grew The ments and look at the existing colour scheme. They then
time opportunity, with some potentially lucra- Rug Gallery from its first location in a small, family- return on a second visit with a selection of rugs.”
tive face-to-face time with discerning veterans owned,2,000sqftwarehousetothe7,200sqftretailstore Grills Grant is currently planning the launch of a new
of the business world. Although this was on the cards in a prestigious retail park it now occupies. online product, www.weddingrunner.com. Brides- and
for Alicia Grills Grant, the owner of specialist rug store “We would work during the day at the store, and in the grooms-to-becanvisitthesitetodesigntheirownfullycus-
The Rug Gallery, it was a far cry from Dragons’ Den that evening we would go out to the clients’ houses, taking tomisable wedding rug that will run the length of any
her business began. alongaselectionofrugswithdesignsandcolourschemes.” church aisle or wedding venue.
Having studied interior design at Dublin Institute of According to Grills Grant, rugs are exceptionally popu- “Rugs are a luxury product, and there isn’t as much
Design, Grills Grant was gaining valuable experience in a lar in Irish homes. “With the majority of houses now hav- money around now as there was, so we had to be innova-
local carpet showroom when she realised there was a gap ingwoodenfloorsortiles,orevenplaincarpets,you’releft tiveandthinkofsomethingthatwouldstanduptoanyhard
in the market. withablankcanvastoworkon.Therightruginanyroom times.Theweddingindustryisworthmillionsofeuroevery
“Therewasnowherereallyforrugs.Thecarpetshowroom can change it completely.” year, so it’s a case of capitalising on that and giving cus-
carriedasmallselection,butwewereinundatedwithpeo- LiaisingcloselywithIreland’stopinteriordesignersmeans tomers a completely new and innovative product, which
ple looking for different types. the products The Rug Gallery stocks are bang-on trend, or represents value for money,” says Grills Grant.
“I decided there had to a business in this somewhere. even ahead of it, meeting customers’ demands for particu- Customers can choose from a selection of design tem-
Insteadofcustomershaving20rugstochoosefrom,I’dgive lar colour schemes or designs as they grow in popularity. plates, add their name and the date of their wedding and
them a couple of hundred in different sizes and colours. “Thetopdesignerstendtobeacoupleofmonthsahead choosethecolours,whichcanbeco-ordinatedtomatchthe
It all went from there.” of the major stores. By working closely with them, we can wedding theme. “The response has been unbelievable.
Grills Grant began to source rugs from Europe and the see what trends are coming out, and then manufacture We knew it was a good idea, but we’d had no idea just
US, and gradually built up a collection from all over the based on that. Certain colours schemes come in and out how good.”
world. The Rug Gallery carries thousands of rugs in stock quite rapidly, so it’s a case of catching that market when Grills Grant hit on the idea of using RTÉ’s Dragons’
and can boast one of the best selections in the country. It thecoloursarein,”saysGrillsGrant. Denasaplatform,andsaysit’saverycost-effectivewayto
stocks contemporary, modern, designer and the finest Good old-fashioned customer service provided by the launch a new product.
hand-knotted rugs, sourcing many of these from Pak- firm’s four-strong staff is fundamental to The Rug Gallery’s “I’vealwaysbeenabigfanofDragons’Denandreadalot
istan, Iran, China and India. success. “People generally don’t know what rug they want of stories of people who pitched to the dragons, regardless
If a client is in search of a rug with a particular colour whentheycomein.Oneofourmostsuccessfulservicesisour of whether they got the investment or not. I realised the
schemeordesignthestoredoesn’tstock,itcanarrangefor ‘AthomewithTheRugGallery’service,whereaqualifiedinte- target market for the Irish show was going to be huge.”
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