Cherokee Floor Covering

By Patti Richter

Woodstock’s Main Street (Old Highway 5) once served as a primary north-south corridor, unhindered by traffic lights. Today, the wide swaths of open space that used to separate Woodstock from Holly Springs are now filled with retail outlets, businesses large and small, subdivisions, and townhomes.

Lamar and Jeanette Prance moved to Cherokee County from metro Atlanta in 1972 for the opportunity to buy affordable land. The couple has clear memories of the changes in this area over the last half century. The small business they established 50 years ago, Cherokee Floor Covering, has grown right along with the population.

Three Generations Family Owned and Operated

Cherokee Floor Covering sits back a bit from Old Highway 5, just next to the original showroom the Prance family built and quickly outgrew (now Alpine Bakery).

Lamar and Jeanette have both retired, but three generations of their family have kept the business going and growing. Cherokee Floor Covering employees are mostly Prance family members including the couple’s children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

“We have a few other employees who seem like part of the family,” says their daughter, Aprele Prance-Johnson.

Aprele, who co-owns the company along with her sister, Kim Prance-Hamrick, also works as the company’s office manager. She credits their continuing success to abiding by their father’s motto from the beginning.

“Dad taught us to do the right thing,” Aprele says. “The customer is always the customer. They come first.”

Lamar says this work ethic means “making things right — doing whatever you tell the customer you will do.” If a customer were to have a complaint, Lamar had another phrase: “Don’t talk about me; let me come fix it.”

50 Years in Business, Since 1972

Jeanette reflects on her family’s early days in Cherokee County: “I’d been hesitant about giving up our home in Smyrna and moving to a house on 40 acres in Hickory Flat that had a roof but no ceiling!”

However, later in 1972, Lamar and Jeanette sold half of their acreage and used the funds to provide a ceiling for the house and the means to begin their family business.

“Dad had continued to work as a commercial carpet installer in Atlanta, and his commute grew tiresome. He began seeking local customers, and he ordered a deck-board of carpet samples that came in only three colors back then. Before long, he was installing carpet in new home subdivisions around Cherokee County,” Aprele explains.

“All I had in the beginning was a van and a briefcase,” Lamar says. “But after selling those 20 acres, I built a small showroom and warehouse for the new business.”

Jeanette hasn’t forgotten that orange 1975 Ford van.

“For every customer order, I loaded all three kids into that van and drove to Dalton to pick up the carpet rolls,” she says.

Besides her driving duty, Jeanette taught herself to manage the growing business accounts and handle the taxes. “I held up my end of the business,” she says, “and I still have my old ledger.”

Lamar recalls their relocation to Highway 5, saying, “We outgrew our small retail space and built a bigger showroom in 1980. There was nothing along the road back then except a grocery store and the Lebanon Post Office.”

“We got a Woodstock phone number for our business that year — and we still have the same one,” adds Jeanette.

Only three years later, in 1983, Cherokee Floor Covering moved into its current, much larger facility. The 10,000-square-foot retail showroom mainly serves custom home and remodel clients, along with walk-in customers. However, attached to the showroom is an impressive 30,000-square-foot warehouse that includes an inventory of more than 1,000 rolls of carpet (although luxury vinyl plank is the company’s No. 1 selling floor product).

Customers, Employees, and Trust

Kim oversees commercial sales. “We were commercial and residential from the start,” she says. “Our commercial focus developed during the 2008 recession. We serve some big clients — schools and hospitals.”

Kim stepped into her management role to take the place of Lamar “Chip” Prance, Jr.

“Our brother ran the company for nearly 20 years until his death due to cancer in 2011,” says Kim.

Aprele rejoined Cherokee Floor Covering before her family’s loss.

“I worked there for several years after high school,” says Aprele. “By the time Chip died, I had raised my children. It was God’s timing for me to return.”

The family agrees that the relationships Chip built helped the company survive and thrive.

“Our longtime customers and employees held us together,” Aprele says. “We all trust each other.”

5155 Old Highway 5
Woodstock, GA 30188
770-926-7500
CherokeeFloorCovering.com