Mo & Me—

Bringing A Designer’s Eye To The Rug Business

By Kaaren Valenta

BROOKFIELD — Menoo Afkari flipped through a pile of rugs, deftly turning back the corners to expose colorful, intricate designs. A small, slender woman, she worked effortlessly, intent on finding a rug with just the right colors for a customer’s room.

She does not look like a typical rug dealer, nor had she ever intended to be.

“I was an interior designer,” she explained. “My ex-husband and I opened this store in the winter of 1996, over three years ago. Before that, we had a store in Westchester County, but the rent became phenomenal.  We chose Brookfield [to relocate] because of its good schools, but it was also still close to Westchester.

“A month after we opened Mo & Me, he left the family and the store,” Ms Afkari said. “I was stuck. I had no experience except working as a designer. I had a choice of closing the store or continuing the business. I decided that if he and other men can do it, I can do it, too.”

“I decided I will probably be the first woman to have an Oriental rug store — and it might as well be me. It was tough,” she added.

Her biggest advantage was her background in interior design.

“I decided to bring a totally new concept into Oriental rugs,” she said. “I use my design background to help the customer find exactly the right rug.”

It also helps that she is a woman.

“I’m a mother, I’m a woman,” she said. “Women feel very comfortable in my store. I believe I am more honest.

“There are some very reputable [male] rug dealers,” she said, “but beware of ‘going out of business sales.’  Make sure your invoice has in writing that the rug is handmade, the size, and everything else you have been told. It is good to know the store will be there if you have a problem. That’s why I joined the Better Business Bureau, to make customers feel more comfortable.”

Born in Iran, Menoo Afkari came to the United States before the revolution against the Shah. She went to California to study, then was accepted at Kent State University in Ohio, where she graduated with a degree in interior design.

“It was a tough time,” she said. “It was during the hostage crisis [in Iran] and the revolution.”

After college, she moved to New York City, where she worked, and met and married her ex-husband.

“We moved to Connecticut almost 12 years ago.  I never thought I’d like it after living in New York City, but I do. It is a wonderful place to raise children.”

In the summer months, Menoo Afkari likes to travel with her two children, Soganck, 10, and Babak, 9, on rug-buying trips.

“A woman can do a lot if she puts her mind into it,” she explained. “I want my son to know and respect women and my daughter to know she can do anything. I have been successful, and I owe a great deal of that to my customers. They have given me such support.  They have understood my situation and made me feel stronger. I can’t say enough about them.”

Mo & Me stocks a wide variety of rugs and “carpets,” which Ms Afkari said refers to large rugs, not wall-to-wall carpeting. All of the rugs are imported.

“They come from China, Pakistan, India, and we have some antique Persians,” she said. “We hope to be able to buy more after the embargo [against Iran] is lifted.”

All of the rugs are handmade. They are made of wool, some with silk woven in to create luster in the design. The rugs range in size from 1½ by 2 feet to oversized rugs for large rooms. There are also unusual rugs including needlepoint and sumac.

“There are stories behind each of these rugs,” Ms Afkari said. “I have seen some of the people who sit behind looms, talking to each other, as they weave them. It takes a long time to make a rug.”_Each country has rugs of varying quality, she said.

“People should compare Chinese with Chinese, Indian with Indian. There are different grades within each. There are different types of wool in each. Chinese rugs are thinner and show more design. In Indian rugs the wool is thicker, stronger. But they are all beautiful. If a customer loves a rug, they should trust their own instinct.”

A small rug, 2 by 3 feet, might sell for as little as $99, or for $200 if it is antique or silk. A standard 6 by 9-foot rug, handmade, all wool, can range from $449 to $3,000. Customers today tend to buy two smaller rugs for a space instead of one larger one.

“If you are buying a rug for a dining room, you should ask what is the potential use if you move to another house,” Ms Afkari she said. “Smaller rugs often are more versatile.”

“I have books so I am able to find just what a customer is looking for,” she said. “My prices are lower than the retail of other stores. I have kept my prices low and I don’t have sales. If you come in this week, next week, or next month, the prices on the tags will be the same.”

Because she is an interior designer, Menoo Afkari believes in spending a lot of time helping customers pick exactly the right rug.

“I tell customers to bring a pillow, a picture, a swatch of fabric to help us decide,” she said. “Or I can visit their house. I like to know their personality and lifestyle. Sometimes I have to talk a customer out of a particular rug, because I know it might not be good for a high traffic area. Often I tell customers to take a rug home, put it in the room, sip their wine there in the evening, and have their coffee there in the morning — then decide if it is right.”

There are beautiful machine-made rugs, but handmade rugs not only will increase in value, they also are easier to vacuum and keep clean than rugs made with acrylic and nylon, she said.

Besides selling rugs, Mo & Me offers other services.

“We hand wash wool rugs here,” she said. “We do rug repairs. We pick up and deliver. We do installation on stairs, and we sell padding. We may be a small store but we have a lot of service. I like to say that we are big enough to have everything and small enough to care.”

Mo & Me is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm; Sunday from noon to 5; closed Tuesdays. It also is open by appointment in the evenings. The store is located at 270 Federal Road and can be reached at 775-0211 or 800/RUG-CLUB (784-2582).