LAKEPORT – Another of Lakeport”s Main Street storefronts will be empty when Sandi”s Interior Design closes its doors on Feb. 9 after 11 years of business, according to storeowner Sandi Ciardelli.
Ciardelli”s interior design business largely depends on the construction industry, and she attributes at least half of the fault for her closure on the recent building slump. Another part is that the cost of materials has gone up, partly to include surcharges for shipping and fuel.
“I have 5,000 square feet here, and I have no business. It”s been very sporadic,” Ciardelli said.
While Ciardelli estimated the construction industry has been slow for two years, she said business started going downhill for her last year. Since 2007, Ciardelli said she”s lost 60 percent of her business.
“I got an offer from the city (Lakeport) for a $35,000 loan, but then I would have had to hire people, and I can”t afford to hire anybody,” Ciardelli said.
Ciardelli said part of the problem is that Mohawk Industries, a Calhoun, Ga. flooring company and her main flooring supplier, increased its prices in 2008. Freight lines started charging for gasoline, according to Ciaradelli.
She said Mohawk and many of her other suppliers kept their prices high when she reduced hers to at least 15 percent less than what she was charging so her customers could afford her products.
“I hate to be doing this. This is not something I thought would happen in the future, but I”ve got to keep moving,” Ciardelli said.
Ciardelli said she will work out of her home for six to eight weeks, then consider relocating and possibly downsizing.
She is the only Hunter Douglas showcase Centurion dealer in Lake and Mendocino counties, and plans to stay in Lakeport and appear at the annual Home and Garden Show held in mid-April at the Lake County Fairgrounds.
“I want to let my customers know how much I love them and how many friends I”ve made over the years in Lake County,” Ciardelli said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
