We were three young and ambitious waiters employed by the old Black Rock Terrace Steak House in the Sheraton Maui who recognized a need, put our heads together, and created a little carpet installation business -- Lahaina Carpet Company -- in 1969. Cliff McQueen,

	Dave Byars and Cliff McQueen, outside the first shop/office when they first started Lahaina Carpet Company

former owner of McQueen's Interiors in Hollywood, had a background in interior design and carpet. Doug Poseley, and I, Dave Byars, newly arrived from California (1966), had an extensive background, too -- in water sports and golf. Actually, Cliff and I started laying carpet together, and Doug joined up with me when Cliff opened up his own furniture store on Maui and later went on to real estate fame.

In our humble beginnings, our warehouse was located in the old cannery along with Ole Surfboards, Christina's Laundry and Raden Boats before it was torn down and rebuilt as the Lahaina Cannery Mall. Our office was located in Doug's house on Waihikuli Road and consisted of a desk, phone, file cabinet and a dog named Puka.

Cliff suggested which carpet installation tools we needed to order, and we researched some how-to-install-carpet texts at the local public library. Equipped with our tools, a little knowledge, and more than a little ignorance, every morning we swung each carpet roll back and forth with a block and tackle over our old Red Ford Econoline pickup until it was over the back of the truck, kept our fingers crossed, let it drop, and off we went!

If we had any idea of what we were up against, we probably would have gone back to waiting tables and collecting tips. Some of our first accounts were on Lana'i, and lacking the funds for air travel we had to make the crossing in a twelve-foot Boston Whaler loaded with our tools. A quick call in the morning to our customer on Lana'i from the pay phone at the Pioneer Inn would give us our report on how the water looked -- if the answer was "pretty calm," we embarked.

As Maui grew, our commercial and residential accounts grew, along with our knowledge and expertise, and soon we were busier than we ever anticipated. In the late 70's, weary with the physical demands of laying carpet and wanting to better balance our labors, Doug and I moved the operation to its present location at Limahana Place and began selling carpet.

In the 80's we added a larger showroom rather than continue to show samples and sell carpet out of our cars! We also added more staff to keep up with Maui's continuing commercial and residential growth and demand for decorating services.

When Doug retired in 1999 to pursue his land development (and old water sports) interests, I assumed sole ownership of the business, which became Lahaina Carpet & Interiors -- we weren't just about carpet anymore. The 90's brought even more tremendous growth and change for us, with still greater expansion to our showroom and staff.

While we still represent major carpet mills from all over the country, including several exclusive lines, and have a wide selection of stock carpets, we offer beautiful hardwood and laminate flooring, as well as ceramic tile and vinyl. Our large upholstery and window treatment design areas have become just as significant to our business as flooring. We have a wide selection of special window treatments -- Hunter Douglas, Castec, Horizons and Skandia to name a few -- as well as custom drapery. Our retail upholstery and drapery fabric showroom is the largest on Maui, and our two experienced full-time upholsterers give fast and expert service, whether they're creating new cushion covers or cornice boxes to top off those special window treatments. Our sales staff is knowledgeable, attentive, offers free design advice, and goes the extra mile to take good and honest care of all customers from start to finish of any project, big or small. We're proud to offer our customers great values, not just great prices.

Lahaina Carpet & Interiors has come a long way since those early days in the late 60's when three young guys got together to lay some carpet, but LCI's ongoing commitment to deliver the best products and services we can remains steady and true. Long ago the tips may have been good while waiting tables, but to me, the daily satisfaction of serving generations of Maui's families and businesses and following through on that commitment is an even greater reward.