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.
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See all our stories on World of Tile by clicking here.
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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.
Martini says
Fascinating. Unfortunately they only sell ceramic tile. If only someone sold NOS vinyl/asbestos tile. I would kill for some and I’m betting other people would too.
pam kueber says
Hi Martini, I see old tile like this at estate sales sometimes — usually, an extra box in the basement. See my stories in Kitchens/Flooring — there are now some designs available from Azrock that are darn good proxies. Of course, if you are a regular reader, you know that I recommend homeowners to consult with properly licensed professionals to ensure they know what is in the original materials in their homes — including the floor tiles — so that they can make informed decisions how to deal with them.
Ike says
1st time I was there about 10 years ago the “discontinued” 1950s porcelain tile was $2.25 a sq ft. I had no use for them at the time but filed it away as a great tile for a future renovation. Fast forward
5 years ago, I revisited and the same “discontinued” tiles were now “vintage” and $7.00 a sq ft. It would have broke my budget for an entire kitchen floor so I passed on it. Fast forward again to summer 2012 and I went back with a backsplash in mind….the same tiles now $20.00 a sq ft.
I regret not buying the whole lot 10 yrs ago!
K Price says
( Did not receive one reply from the Star Ledger. SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE GIVING THIS PLACE ITS DUE! )
From: Price, K.
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 5:22 PM
To: ‘jbraun@starledger.com’
Cc: ‘avenutolo@starledger.com’; ‘moshinsky@starledger.com’; ‘dlaquaglia@starledger.com’
Subject: FW: How has an article not been written on the stunning ‘World’s Fair-like’ World Of Tile in Springfield NJ?
Enrique Lavin’s email said the he would be out of the office until Monday, Oct. 12 and that you all were some helpful contacts in Features and A&E. Thanks!
From: LAVIN, ENRIQUE [mailto:ELAVIN@STARLEDGER.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 5:14 PM
To: Price, Kathi A
Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: How has an article not been written on the stunning ‘World’s Fair-like’ World Of Tile in Springfield NJ?
Entering into the World of Tile on route 22 West in Springfield was like blinking and finding myself in what I imagined to be an exhibit at the 1964’s World Fair. My mouth dropped open and I felt that ‘holding your breath is this real feeling’ as I entered into the cavernous Mid-Century modern circular building. It was such an atypical experience that it took me a minute to get my bearings. I saw no recognizable counter and then I realized that the perfectly round tiled ‘tiki-hut’ looking construction smack in the middle of the floor with tiled counter and tiled spokes that extended it seemed like 20 feet to the top of the dome was the counter. The space all around this centralized command center was open and seemed vast. I could see Route 22 from within this windowed sanctuary – but I felt like I had entered another world, maybe another dimension. I can not tell you how happy I was to be in there. It felt wonderful. I had to suppress the ooh’s and ah’s. And the tile. Almost everything was tile or had been tiled. Tile from every style and age. I was in a museum. They have thousands of different tiles and they had the almost hundred year old tile that I had been looking for by internet, phone and travel for days on end. Not only did they have the exact pattern hanging on the wall, they had plenty more of it in a storeroom. The picture of the building does not give one the true size of the place – it is vast. I was so moved that I determined to write and implore you to go take a look at this place and hopefully do an article. Really, it is a New Jersey Gem that needs its history and art documented and preserved. I asked the owner whether she ever been written up by the Star-Ledger and she said no. I could not believe it. Please do not let this opportunity slip through the cracks. Dedicated artisans and like these are part of what makes our state so very special.
K.Price -Life-long New Jersey resident
http://www.worldoftile.us/
http://www.italytile.com/tilesearch_us_canada_results.php?code=WOR136
Sandy Ellingson says
My husband and I are redoing our late 60′ to early 70′ house
he is in the process of stripping the kitchen cabints (red oak
Next I want to fix up my bthreoom – it has the marble elook plastic tiles (white
I love them – I know they are not ceramic – but it is so unique that I do not have the heart to replace with boring modern tile we are on a very tight budget
so i think my best bet would be to send some tile to see if it could be matched
Sydney says
OMG!! I have been looking for replacement tile for ages and it looks like they may have exactly what I need. I’ll wait a couple weeks seeing as they are swamped with retro rennovation request. This is the best site 🙂
Trouble says
Even tho this post isn’t being viewed as much…..we are definitely going there August 5th! WOO HOO!
Gonna finally get the tile to get our tub done. I just called the store and she is SWAMPED with calls/emails/requests from retrorenovation LOL sounded like she was gonna pull her hair out!
maryWV says
I’m going to this place in about two weeks! Let me know if anyone wants photos of anything or needs me to scout for anything! I’m on it. 🙂
pam kueber says
woo hoo! have fun! what are you looking for? i want to do stories on all the readers who use tile from World of Tile!
kory carroll says
now i know why i moved back home to new jersey from orlando 3 years ago! as we say in my house…. ‘Roadtrip”!
Kali says
The building and sign made my heart skip a beat all on their own, the inside being a time capsule is something you only dream about. If that place ever closes down, I hope there is somewhere they can donate the sign to!
Just another Pam says
I must say the lime green tile on the left in #56 is pretty special and bespeaks a time and place.
What a ride, Pam!