TILE MARKET OF DELAWARE PREPARING FOR MOVE - DELAWARE ONLINE NEWS

The Tile Market of Delaware is consolidating operations and expanding in a move so big, it's hiring staff and planning to drive customers around in golf carts.

An exact number of hires, to join the current staff of 47, is not set, owners say. But their website, www.tilemarketofde.com, lists more than a dozen kinds of available jobs from sales and logistics to stone saw operators.

Contractors for Harvey, Hanna & Associates are in the process of customizing and refitting its 55,960-square-foot home-to-be at 405 E. Marsh Lane in the Newport Industrial Park.

The prominent tile company founded in 1996 -- known for high-end imports, handmade art tile and custom stone countertops -- is to move in mid-September.

The move will bring together its operations of importing, storage, stone-shop fabrication, distribution and retail sales. Its retail business is now in the Germay Industrial Park off Maryland Avenue, and a Middleboro Road site houses its fabrication division, stone shop and other functions.

The new site also will have a larger showroom, fabrication shop and slab yard with covered storage for weather-sensitive slabs -- and "golf carts for shuttling customers through the [slab] yard," said Tile Market President John Watson. Its enlarged area for stock, he said, will "provide a centerpiece selection of choices ideal for both residential and commercial projects."

The market keeps more than 1 million square feet of tile, stone and slab from quarries and factories worldwide, Watson said.

"That's what's kind of different from most tile operations," said his brother and partner, Tim Watson. "You see it, you want it, we've got it in stock."

The store also carries tools, repair supplies and accessories for pros and do-it-yourselfers.

All of its operations will shut down for a few days in September to make the massive move, but "some things will be moved in advance," Tim Watson said.

"For the tile, we've got tractor-trailers that are going to run back and forth," he said. "For the slabs, it's a little bit more tricky. You need a larger flatbed with A-frames that has a boom on it like a crane." But they will have help. "Some of our slab suppliers are going to be helping us out," he said.

Any move can be a pain, he said with a laugh, but moving more than 1 million feet of tile and slab won't be worse than a computer conversion. "Somehow," he said, "it gets done."

After the move, he said, customers can work with one service person at one site to select and coordinate tile and slab products -- and an easy-access spot off Interstate 95 will draw from nearby states to "the home of tax-free shopping."

E. Thomas Harvey III, president of Harvey, Hanna & Associates, a commercial real estate redevelopment firm, has known the Watsons 15 years and said, "the town of Newport is fortunate to add Tile Market of Delaware and its team of professionals as its newest corporate citizen."

Its future home had housed International Paper Co., but Harvey, Hanna spokesman Ryan Kennedy said, "Just a couple of weeks ago, we moved them just down the street to 401 E. Marsh Lane," and they were happy to help.

The Tile Market has a second Delaware location in Lewes.


Source:  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110731/BUSINESS/107310316/Tile-Market-Delaware-preparing-move?odyssey=mod_sectionstories




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