Gwen Nagata is sales manager and general "right-hand man" for the owner of Indich Collection. She sat Wednesday on a stack of some of the many Persian rugs available at the store.
Magic carpet ride
Gwen Nagata finds joy for herself
in helping her customers find
just the right rug
Gwen Nagata> Title: Sales managerJob: Manages the sales staff and handles related duties at rug retailer Indich Collection
|
Question: Your title at Indich Collection is sales manager. So what do you do there?
Answer: My job here is to work with designers to install rugs, and also with the general public. There's a lot of salespeople on the staff but actually I'm probably the primary salesperson. Other than that, I'm just a manager in general where you tell people what to do and when to do it and just coordinate the daily routine. I'm kind of boring.
Q: How long have you been at Indich Collection?
A: Eleven years.
Q: What were you doing before that?
A: You know, Bill (Indich, owner of the company) was my business neighbor. I owned a jewelry store, and we had to share four parking stalls, and we were always fighting over them. You could bet that anybody never thought that we would ever get along.
Q: So when your business closed, he asked you to join him?
A: After that, I worked for my nephew (Kelvin Ro) a little while. His restaurant was called Kahala Moon, and now it's morphed into Diamond Head Market and Grill.
I'm old, you know. (Laughter) I'm 54. But it's a good time. You can have a little more confidence about who you are and what you do. And you can have a little more fun and a little more whimsy. You should have more whimsy in your life.
Q: I'm working on it. But, still, how did you start working for Indich Collection?
A: Bill decided he needed a genuine salesperson on the staff.
Q: So he called you?
A: Actually, I came by and visited him and asked him if he needed my help.
Q: What happened to the jewelry store?
A: I sold it. And then it went to Kilohana Square. Before that, we had all been in a building where Pier One is now (at the corner of Auahi and Kamakee streets). But we all got evicted. We were neighbors back then. My partner (in the jewelry store) and I referred to ourselves as the Kravitzes (the annoying, nosy neighbors from the TV show "Bewitched,") so Ms. Kravitz now works for Bill Indich!
Gwen Nagata, sales manager for Indich Collection, on Wednesday arranged one of the many rugs available at the company's Nimitz Highway outlet. The former jewelry store owner joined the 26-year-old company 11 years ago.
A: On staff we have about 20 people.
Q: All at the Nimitz location?
A: Yeah. It's surprising -- but they're not all here at the same time.
Q: There are other stores, right?
A: We actually have one more showroom, on Ward Avenue, and we have an outlet at the Navy Exchange. We also have one in Kona and one on Maui. So part of my job is to make sure that whatever the neighbor islands need they're getting; whatever needs to be shipped gets shipped.
Q: Do you work just at the Nimitz location?
A: Now I do, otherwise it just gets a little overwhelming for Bill. I'm kind of his right-hand man. So I make his work a little easier.
Q: What is the range of the products that the stores offer?
A: It goes from something as simple as a woven rug to something wool and silk.
Q: From small rugs to big ones?
A: Oh sure, all sizes.
Q: Are they called rugs or carpets?
A: Either way is appropriate: area rugs or area carpets.
Q: Do you ever sell wall-to-wall carpets?
A: Never. Area rugs are all we do, and basically hand-knotted carpets.
Q: What do the prices run for the rugs that you sell?
A: Oh, anywhere from $38 to thousands.
Q: Do you ever go on location to people's homes to help them pick out the right type of rugs?
A: Absolutely. It's rare, but I do.
Q: You help them pick the colors or something?
A: It would be easier if people brought in their floor sample and their fabric, but our job is to make the rug pull in the different facets of the room together.
In fact, what renewed interest in the store is that people are more interested in hardwood floors again, and that's why we have the Hawaiian rugs, because they pertain to our casual lifestyle here, and that's made our business blossom lately. People wanted something that was sophisticated and elegant but not a Persian look.
Q: You call them Hawaiian rugs, but what is it that makes them Hawaiian -- the prints?
A: It could be a print, or it could be a design. It's actually a trademarked name for us -- Hawaiian Rugs. It became a whole new concept in that it was a contemporary look and it pertains to our island lifestyle. People on the mainland buy it because, if they moved away, they want a little momento or souvenir, or ex-Hawaiians like the idea of having a little retreat that still bespeaks of Hawaii.
Q: As a practical matter, though, they're not made in Hawaii, right?
A: All the designs are created for us, and then we manufacture it and then sell it.
Q: They're made mostly where?
A: They're made in Nepal, India and China.
Q: Have you ever visited any of the factories overseas?
A: No. We do it all by computer, and actually they come to us.
Q: How many customers do you personally deal with each day?
A: Maybe about 10 to 12. They don't all buy at once.
Q: What's the typical thing that you sell the most.
A: It would probably be our upscale Hawaiian line.
Q: What's your favorite part of the job?
A: I think probably helping people. And I don't say that as a cliché, and the reason is, we're not on commission here, so whether you work with me or someone else, the incentive is to make the client happy, to have them make their house look better.
Q: When you joined the company, you probably didn't know much about rugs, so how did you learn about that?
A: I actually knew quite a bit because I was a nosy neighbor. But now that we're our own importer and manufacturer, we've actually improved the product and decreased the cost over the years. So it's just amazing.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
