Costen Floors

Specialties

We are a premier, one-​stop provider of high-​quality floor coverings. We operate with the highest integrity while providing a rewarding quality of life for our employees and a fair return for our customers, employees, owners and suppliers. We’ve been helping Richmond-​area homeowners select and install new floors for more than 65 years.

History

Established in 1948.

In 1948 when Costen Floors, Inc. was founded by Ralph L. Costen, Sr., the flooring business was very different than it is today. All homes and most businesses had hardwood flooring. The reason was simple, most financial institutions and federally insured home mortgages required homes to have hardwood floors because of their structural longevity. In the mid-​1960s the federal government changed the rules to also allow FHA/​VA home mortgages to apply to homes with carpet over a wood underlayment floor. The financial rule-​change triggered the explosion in flooring options that we enjoy today.

Costen Floors competed with the other flooring materials for over two decades by concentrating on hardwood flooring, offering a variety of woods and flooring styles while keeping the price competitive with less expensive flooring alternatives. In the process, Costen Floors became the largest hardwood flooring dealer in Virginia. However, by the late 1980s, many of the carpet and tile dealers started e