Durham 'Persian Carpet' store owners now closing retail business and beginning wholesale operations

The successful owners of a Persian rug business in Durham are now closing their retail store after almost 50 years. Signs in front of "The Persian Carpet" store in Durham lets everyone know that "Everything must go!"

The owners, Doug and Nelda Lay, began their professional lives as educators. Co-owner Nelda Lay said, "Doug was going to be a university professor and I was going to be a public school teacher."

When Doug took his first trip to Iran with a friend, the fanciful designs he saw pulled the rug right out from under him. "He was fascinated with rugs once we found out what they are," said Nelda Lay.

"One is never enough," declared Doug Lay. "You got to know the only cure for the oriental rug disease is lots of money."

Consider the labor-intensive work and the handcrafted beauty behind these treasured rugs. Doug Lay said, "Everyone of these different little bumps is a single hand-tied knot."

With another piece, he explained, "You’ve got roughly 2020 knots horizontally and 20 knots vertically per square inch in this piece."

They’re made of dyed sheep’s wool and often, strands of silk. Repairing aged rugs is another art of which Jan Ali is a master. "Jan has been here since I was 11, and he’s never left. He’s like our adopted grandfather," said Cynthia McLaren, who was 7 years old when her parents opened the store.

She remembered, "My sister and I would be here on weekends and we would jump on the rug stacks."

Eventually, McLaren helped her parents as store manager. Now that means managing the closing of one era and the start of a new one for her parents.

McLaren said, "The business has changed completely because of the rugs that we design and import and when we wholesale to other people.

Her mom said, "That’s the reason for eliminating and moving out of retail." Her husband added, "It frees up a lot of time and energy."

Now the Lays are watching more of the "magic carpets" flying out of their store and into the arms of buyers. The Lays say selling the beautiful rugs is not their main focus. Doug Lay said, "We want them adopted out. Adopted into new families."

The Lays say it was the 1979 Iranian revolution in Tehran, Iran that led to changing the name from Persian carpets to Oriental rugs.

After that revolution, India, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan became the world’s primary rug suppliers.