BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

NEWPORT BEACH — Stacked along the walls of Mark Aftabi’s rug shop on East Coast Highway are more than a thousand treasures from a world far removed from central Orange County.

Aftabi, the owner of the Amir Rug Gallery in Corona del Mar, has been in the Persian rug business for the last 22 years. Since graduating from college, the Irvine resident has run the upscale shop by the beach while his father, Nasser Aftabi, imported rugs from their native Iran. The elder Aftabi obtained the carpets in big cities and remote rural areas, often buying them directly from the weavers themselves and shipping them across the Atlantic.

In March of this year, Nasser Aftabi passed away.

Now, his son, who plans to keep the business alive, is hoping to settle his father’s estate by November — and sell all the rugs that have enticed collectors and decorators throughout Southern California for years.

“There’s a lot of wealth in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach,” Aftabi said. “If people have $20-million homes, they’re not going to buy a rug from a department store.”

Aftabi, who counts such upscale neighborhoods as Newport Coast, Shady Canyon and Pelican Point among his clientele, is willing to negotiate prices for his father’s rugs, aiming for wholesale value rather than retail. Already, he said, a number of customers have noticed the sale sign in his window and stepped in to cut a bargain.

Among the gallery’s most devoted customers over the years has been Von Hemert Interiors in Costa Mesa, which regularly works with Aftabi to design clients’ homes.

Owner Mickey von Hemert, who has been purchasing rugs from Aftabi for a decade, said he was saddened by the news of the elder Aftabi’s passing in March.

“I just wish him luck,” he said. “We’re sending the best to his family.”

Once Aftabi has sold off the estate, he has his own supply of rugs to replenish the store. Still, he said, the outgoing stock is a tribute to his father’s skillful — and highly respected — eye.

“He was one of the only people dealers would call to date a rug and let them know what village it came from,” Aftabi said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].