Harry Katz Carpet One Floor & Home is adding a kitchen and bath section to its Mineola location on Nov. 8.

The longstanding business’ continued success and dedication to customers has resulted in the addition, co-owner Cynthia Katz Sigadel said.

Katz is expanding into a “one stop design store” to serve the community better, she said.

“What we’re doing by bringing in the mattresses and the blinds and even kitchen and bath is bringing value to our customer base,” Sigadel said. “We don’t expect somebody to walk in looking for just a mattress, but many of our customers shopping for carpeting may want to replace a mattress and now they can buy it from a reputable place.”

“That’s one thing Harry Katz has always been able to provide,” Sigadel said. “Value.”

The expansion with Kiba studios will turn the 3,500-square-foot basement of Katz, for years a storage space, into a kitchen and bath concept studio, which will have its grand opening on Nov. 8.

“People want to be comfortable,” Sigadel said. “It’s more of a home concept than a store, so you’re going to be sitting in a living room or in a real kitchen or entertainment center.”

With the Kiba expansion come new products. Among them will be Hunter Douglas blinds, Sigadel said, and the installation team that comes along with purchase of them.

Harry Katz Floor Covering and Appliances opened 86 years ago when Sigadel’s grandparents, Harry and Yetta Katz, took some rolls of linoleum and some ice boxes from Joseph Katz’s furniture store to open.

Harry Katz was also a founding member of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce.

“Harry Katz Carpet has been a cornerstone of business in the village for decades,” Mineola Chamber of Commerce President Joel Harris said.

“The chamber and myself can’t express how pleased we are to know that businesses are thriving and continuing to expand in Mineola,” Harris said.

Sigadel’s brother, Gary Katz, has worked at the store for more than 30 years and served for three years as the president of the chamber.

In 1986, Harry Katz partnered with Carpet One, a floor & home design retailer cooperative with over 1,000 locations today, in order to stay competitive. In doing so, Katz left the appliance business behind.

The basement of Harry Katz was used for appliances up until the cooperative partnership in 1986.

“The space really hasn’t been utilized,” Sigadel said.

Partnering with Carpet One allowed Harry Katz to remain independently owned, but allowed Carpet One to negotiate costs with manufacturers.

“[Carpet One] allows the mom and pop stores to have much better buying power within the market,” Sigadel said. “It allows us to compete against the big box stores and our buying power is as big as anyone’s.”

One significant change that Sigadel has noticed about the flooring market in her 30 years of experience is the recent demand for hard surface over carpet.

“In the last five years it’s become huge,” Sigadel said. “People are just liking the look of hardwood and vinyl is coming out with similar looks.”