Sure, other carpet and tile stores may have more professional looking websites, glossier spokespeople, and better deals, but they will never have the same kind of place in the hearts of St. Louisans as Becky, Queen of Carpet. If you somehow missed the news that shook the city to its very core earlier this week, Becky’s Carpet and Tile Superstore has suddenly closed its doors. The Regent of Rugs herself told stltoday.com that she was hoping to reopen the store sometime in the future. However, with public records indicating that the Rothmans are delinquent in paying $150,000 in property taxes on four of their stores, the business’s future looks bleak.
Becky Rothman has run the family business with her brothers since 1977 and ruled the airwaves with her wacky commercials since 1994. Some of the highlights over the years include Her Majesty of Hardwood falling off the arch, singing Christmas carols, and going into space––none of which really had anything to do with carpet or tile, but that hardly seemed to concern Becky. And few people in St. Louis didn’t follow Our Lady of Linoleum’s dramatic weight loss closer than any contestant on Biggest Loser.
In all honesty, I have never actually purchased carpet from Becky’s, nor do I know if I would given the chance. But I do know that if you gave me a Rorschach test with ink blots shaped like carpets, the first thing that would come to my mind would be Becky’s Carpet and Tile Superstore. And for that reason, even when all the carpet squares and samples of linoleum are gone from the showrooms, there still won’t be anyone that can beat Becky’s.
