What started out as a nice gesture to help out local teachers and schools has turned into a full-blown event for Johnston Paint & Decorating in Columbia, Missouri. About a decade ago, co-owner Melissa Murphy started donating carpet remnants to local schools as a way to clear out the warehouse.
“Many retailers make money selling off remnants, but for us, it was a much better use of our time and energy to give them away to those who need them,” Murphy says.
In 2015, Murphy approached warehouse operations manager Ben Ridgeway about hosting a rug giveaway at the store because she had more remnants than she had previous years. She planned on putting all the remnants out on the loading dock and letting people know via Facebook about the day and time to come pick one up for free. 
“So I put it up on Facebook on a Saturday morning, and by dinner that evening, the post had blown up with over 300 shares and 20,000 impressions,” Murphy says. “I had a lot more remnants than I had in the past, but not enough if all these people would have showed up. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, so Ben and I came up with a plan.”
Ridgeway scoured the warehouse looking for additional remnants or other small pieces of carpet, and on the day of the pickup, every piece was claimed quickly. That day ended up being so successful that Murphy decided to make it an official event.
The rug giveaway takes place in the store’s warehouse over a two-and-a-half hour period and each remnant is back-rolled so the teachers can see the colors, textures and patterns of the rugs. Employees help the teachers carry the rugs to their cars.
Murphy says the giveaway has become a social event for the teachers, with many of them meeting up for breakfast ahead of time or joining the line well ahead of opening to be one of the first in. After they pick out their rugs, many spend time in the store chatting and browsing.
Because of the success of the event, Murphy says they can no longer support it with their own remnants, so she now purchases remnant packages from the mill to supplement.
“The investment is completely worth it, to make those connections with the community,” she says. “We believe in nontraditional marketing, and spending our dollars on events like this makes sense for us. The goodwill that comes from these crazy ideas is hard to measure, but we see it through these events.”
Over the years, Murphy has involved other small businesses, inviting them to provide pies or smoothies or other wares during the event. Shaw Floors even sent a film crew one year to capture the event. This past year, a local family donated $10,000, with five teachers each receiving $1,000 to use for classroom supplies and $5,000 given to one teacher’s school parent teacher organization.
“It’s a lot of work leading up to the event, but all it takes is seeing a few of those teachers with their faces lit up to make it all worth it,” Ridgeway says.
Read examples of the other ways retailers are connecting with their customers in our The Big Picture section.
