*Written by Charles Erickson, Correspondent. Press & Sun-Bulletin

Hallstead, Pa. In the fall of 1986, workers here began cleaning out an old building on Main Street that had sat empty for at least five years. Many local residents began chatting about the viability of the boroughs latest enterprise.

People couldn't believe a carpet store was coming to Hallstead, let alone one owned by a woman recalled Gail george, the proprietor of Liberty Carpet.

There were doubts about whether the business would last. Main Street doesn't get the traffic it did in the times before interstate 81, and Hallstead's commercial strip isn't a suburban ratail district of the type traditionally favored by home stores.

I think I've fooled a lot of people, George said.

The Liberty stores sell different types of flooring. There are ceramic tiles, hardwoods, sheet-vinyl and laminates. But carpeting accounts for the most sales.

Vinyl comes in large rolls and is stacked seven high in racks. Sales in the segment have grown to rank second only to carpets, something George credited to expanded designs and improvements in quality.

You can't tell if it's ceramic tile or vinyl until you actually touch it, she said.

Carpet remnants are often confused with the scraps left over when sections are trimmed to fit a room. Instead, they are the portions that remain on carpet rolls. It is often cheaper to bring in an entire roll than have it cut to size at the factory. And what remains on the roll is held for stock.

If I can make the right deal, George said, I can sell the carpet below what it would have cost me to order it.

About three-quarters of sales involve the installation of flooring. Four crews, which work as independent contractors, are used for laying down the products.

The Liberty Carpets stores draw customers from their surrounding areas, including out-of-towners from Philadelphia, New York City and New Jersey staying at their second homes during the summer months. A sizeable clientele comes from Greater Binghamton. 

Plenty of inventoried carpet was kept during the Hallstead store's early years. But George later discovered that most customers weren't intent on leaving the premises with new carpet. They preferred to order from books and wait a few days for the product to be trucked in.

They usually want a certain color or a certain style, she said.

The areas of the Hallstead store where carpet rolls once rested have given way to more display space for racks and books.