Zaki Uddin Khalifa, a Pakistani who came to North Carolina in 1976 and created one of the nation’s largest Oriental rug distributorships, has sold his downtown High Point property as part of his plan to share his wealth with the needy.
The buyer of Khalifa’s 97,000-square-foot Main Street site is Homelegance, a Fremont, California-based furniture distributor with 10 sites in the U.S. and Canada. The sales price was $8.5 million, the High Point Enterprise reports.
Khalifa arrived in the United States in 1976 with $500, the most that Pakistan permitted emigrants. After concluding New York was too expensive, he moved to North Carolina on the invitation of High Point University Professor Carl Wheeless, who as a missionary taught at Methodist-sponsored high school in Lahore, Pakistan.
Starting with 40 imported rugs, Khalifa eventually had an inventory of 16,000 with retail prices ranging from less than $1,000 to more than $400,000. Major interior designers and individuals in every state and 17 nations became customers.
In 2018, Khalifa said he planned to sell his 100,000-square foot building within five years, then donate proceeds to Akhuwat, a Pakistani nonprofit that provides interest-free microloans and free grade-school education. It’s part of his pledge to share 80% of his net worth with philanthropies, mainly serving people in his native country.
While the building sale has closed, Khalifa plans to sell his remaining 4,000 rugs for several weeks at what he calls “the lowest prices in the 46 years we’ve been in business.” The rug industry is deservedly notorious for going-out-of-business sales, he says, noting that liquidators mark up prices by 35-fold, then offer discounts that aren’t really favorable.
Khalifa says he has a complaint-free record from the Better Business Bureau, where he has been a board member. (One exception was a shopper who complained after Zaki wouldn’t let him bring his dog into the warehouse.)
The sale is largely motivated by the declining quality of rugs, Khalifa says. Few people in developing nations have the economic need or patience to spend a year or more weaving an intricate rug.
Khalifa and his wife, Rashida, founded the Al-Aqsa Community Clinic, a Burlington-based free health clinic, and Friends of Aabroo, which has provided education funds for thousands of Pakistani children. Pakistan is the fifth most populous nation with more than 212 million people, more than a third of whom live in poverty.
Other generosity including gifting his former High Point showroom spaces to house the High Point Chamber of Commerce, convention and visitors’ office and a nonprofit that supports nonviolent conflict resolution. He built the existing building in 1999.
All told, Khalifa’s philanthropy is expected to exceed $25 million, the Enterprise reports.
In retirement, Khalifa plans to split his time between High Point and Lahore, Pakistan, the city of 12 million where he grew up.
Khalifa has received numerous awards for his business and service endeavors, including the BB&T Distinguished Citizen of the Year and Small Business Advocate of the Year from the High Point Chamber of Commerce. He was selected as one of the top 50 Asian-Americans in business in the U.S. by the Asian American Business Development Center, and received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award from Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015.
“Zaki is a humble man who has demonstrated that diversity in America is good and that diversity in America makes us whole,” High Point University President Nido Qubein said when he presented Khalifa with an Order of the Long Leaf Pine honor in 2015. “He has been a person who has promoted the kind of values that are noble and precious to each of us, and that shows us what we believe in America is important and worthwhile.”
