Do-ups boom for tile business

The Tile Depot move into bigger premises in Gumdigger Place has worked well for the company. Photo / John Stone

One year down the track from the Tile Depot moving into bigger premises in Gumdigger Place and the decision is proving to be the right one.

The move has taken the Whangarei Tile Depot from a 400sq m premises in Commerce St to one of more than 1000sq m in Gumdigger Place.

With the shift went an increase in staff from two to four.

Whangarei manager Toy Geldenhuis said there was a consensus in the wider building industry that migration of Aucklanders to the regions was good for some businesses, and he included the Tile Depot in that group.

"Sales are probably up 20 per cent since we made the move and a lot of the people we talk with in-store have moved up from Auckland.

"They get better value for their homes here than in Auckland and they can then spend any leftover cash on renovations."

The move has allowed the Tile Depot to display a larger range of tiles as well as more fully tiled displays.

The Tile Depot owners - the Syddall family - are originally from Whangarei. After opening stores in Auckland and Hamilton in 1995 they were keen to secure a presence in the North and established the Tile Depot Whangarei in 1998.

"When we first opened the store in 1998, our range was around 200 tiles. We twice took over neighbouring retail space but, with a range now in excess of 1000 tiles, we have outgrown (the premises) and needed the huge new site," said Mike Syddall, the Tile Depot general manager.

Mr Syddall said sales from home renovations now outweighed new builds.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand (2014) show home renovation is a $1.5 billion industry.