Update: World of Tile closed in 2014. See our story on the liquidation sale (now completed) here.
Announcing the single most exciting discovery on the blog yet: World of Tile — a tile store that opened in Springfield, New Jersey, in 1957 and which is still open today. A lovely story of same-family-ownership small business longevity. But, the big news is that this tile store is chock full of new old stock NOS mint in box MIB vintage tile from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. GORGEOUS tile, and at what I consider very fair prices. You read it first here… !!!GeT Y@Ur T!Le FaSt!!!! — because once the fancy shmancy hotsy totsy New York interior design crowd finds out about this place (that is: starting NOW), they are going to rush on over to New Jersey and, I fear, wipe the place out.
My great big fat World of Tile story is so fantabulous, that I am dedicating the next several days to rolling the story out.
How we discovered World of Tile
First, I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to Jason and Nicky — who discovered World of Tile. Nicky, in particular. As you may recall, Jason and Nicky are intrepid renovators and they made a trek a few months back to Emily’s big stash of NOS tile in West Virginia, which I had discovered via the Forum.
As Jason explained to me by phone: After their trek to West Virginia, where they did buy some fab tile, they still needed some specific, mint-colored tile that they had in mind for a bathroom renovation. Nicky would NOT give up, and kept searching and searching online, following up on any little tidbit of information about a possible source that she could get. World of Tile was just one such tidbit. She saw it mentioned in a discussion forum somewhere, and with little expectation of success, she called World of Tile. Yes, World of Tile said, they had mint green tile. Old stuff. Vintage stuff. New old stock stuff. From the 1960s or so.
Pronto, Jason and Nicky drove three hours north to World of Tile, and it was then they discovered they had hit a motherlode. Now, “motherlode” is a quite a cliched term, but in this case, it really fits. When Jason and Nicky arrived home, Jason wrote me a long email and send lots of cameraphone photos. Here is an excerpt from Jason that pretty much sums up my feelings, too:
I expected to find a few varieties of vintage tile, but I never expected an entire store of vintage tile. I was speechless; I was actually incoherent. My wife found this greatly amusing, as I pretty much could only say ‘Wow’
Looking at all of Jason’s photos, I knew this place was going to be good, so as quickly as I could, I arranged my schedule to get down to World of Tile to see for myself. The place is about three hours south from my house. It did not disappoint. The owner Chippy — as in “little chip off the old block” — was very very gracious and kind. She gave me a tour of the 5 showrooms upstairs… I also toured the downstairs, where they store all the tile… I took hundreds of photos… and even made a video walking through the entire store so that you can see for yourself what a retro wonderland it is.
World of Tile, we loved you so
Again, update: World of Tile has now closed. See our story on the liquidation sale (now completed) here.
Meanwhile, here are 100+ photos from my trip to BLOW YOUR MIND. Note, I am showing all these photos, so you — Retro Renovation readers — can get a jump start going after any tile you need. You can get both replacement tile, and full orders.
-
See all our stories on World of Tile by clicking here.
-
Oh and howdy hudee, The New York Times came with me on this visit — read the story they did on the blog (and World of Tile)!
To play slide show: Click on an image… it will enlarge… use arrows below image to move forward or back… you can start at any image.
Beth Hegedus says
Looking for a 4 x 4 glazed pink tile. The ones in the photo at thte top looks good. Can I order a sample?
pam kueber says
Beth, we do not sell anything here. You need to contact the companies that are profiled in our stories. Most stories have links to their websites, which is where you will find the contact information.
Mike Padu says
Beware of world of tile !!!!!
I send two samples during the spring and they could not find a replacement. They wanted to keep the samples but I told them I needed for my repair, They charged me $ 26.00 to send back the samples back to even if it cost them $ 5.95 to send the box by 1 class mail USPS.
Caveat emptor
pam kueber says
sounds like they charged you a $20 handling fee… not necessarily unreasonable… but they should let you know this ahead of time…thanks for letting us know
Lori says
We have an old Victorian house that had a shower installed with 3×6 subway tiles. We found replacements for them but we can not find outside corner 6×1 inch tiles in white (not bright white). They match the edges of the shower wall to the rest of the bathroom subway tiles. We afre coming to NJ and will be there during the week of August 25. we can bring the tiles we are looking for and were wondering if we can stopin to see your inventory.
pam kueber says
Lori — this site is not World of Tile. You need to contact them directly.
Miss Wynonna says
Was World of Tile a chain store or a franchise? I remember as a child in the late 60’s early 70’s seeing the EXACT same World of Tile signs and similar buildings around Detroit and the suburbs
pam kueber says
No. They were not. I think you are thinking of Color Tile.
Megan says
Wow flashback.. I remember going to world of tile with my mom in the eighties to buy the tile for our bathroom!! I always loved that sign!
Mary Romano says
Wow-what a find for someone doing repairs or needing replacement of vintage tiles, def. keeping this info. handy
Donald G Swanson says
Where can I get a few pieces of white bathroom tile 4-1/2″ X 4-1/2″ with tiny gold speckles for a 1970’s condo)? I am in the Chicago area. Thanks
pam kueber says
Donald, you can try World of Tile to see if they have replacements. You need to send them samples… Read the instructions in this story.
Debby Gordon says
i’m interested in the pale blue retro style ceramic glazed tile 4×4.
in your photo, it’s the middle bunch, then the middle row, then the far left light blue tile, also interested in the pink. what is the cost per each or however you are pricing the tiles.
thanks,
debby
pam kueber says
Debby, we do not sell anything here. You need to contact World of Tile. Also, if you want enough tile for a complete bathroom, your go-to starting place should be B&W. See our category Bathrooms / Tile — for all our resources. Good luck.
Carol Belding says
We are in the process of buying a 1957 pretty intact house in Sarasota, FL. The bathrooms are spectacular, the tile vanities yummy. The original kitchen cabinets are there and we’ll strip and repaint them. We are installing a new “vintage” look back splash tile and simple counters.
The base of the gray and pink master shower is leaking. I sent a photo to Chippy and she matched the tile and is shipping it to us for the repair. What a character and great fun. (I’m from New Jersey)
Thanks for the referral,
Carol Belding
pam kueber says
YAY! Sarasota — that’s where we plan to retire!
Monique says
O-M-G!! Just found your site and am floored!! Will probably spend the weekend reading everything. The tiles are what caught my attention. Ten years ago we bought a 1963 vintage home in Mount Dora, Florida. Thankfully NOTHING had been done to ‘update’ it (except for adding a hideous, cheap sink in the GARAGE bathroom). We just started a mild reno to the main bathroom, which has a VERY odd blue/green tile in it, along with all the original fixtures. I am totally encouraged by this site and all the other enthusiasts who want to preserve the beauty of their interiors…yeah for us!! Yeah for this site…
pam kueber says
Welcome, Monique. Yes, we do have some fun here.