FEATURE ARTICLE
hellooo sydney
When National Tiles’ founder Frank
The team then made their way into
Walker first launched the business in
the NSW market. Says Nick, “Our
1979, he did so with one small store in
venture into NSW was driven by our
Geelong West in Victoria. The business
partnership with Metricon Homes.
quickly grew with several stores across
Launching into this new market and
Melbourne plus a few franchise stores.
adding installation to our supply
National Tiles operates over 40 stores
offering was a challenge, but the
and franchises in Victoria, NSW, South
partnership really flourished. Four
Australia and Queensland.
years on the store we opened in
Explains Nick Walker, “When we first considered expanding National
“National Tiles is more than just a business... It’s a family, we will never forget our humble beginnings and we’ll always look to the future.
38 NATIONAL TILES
Warner’s Bay near Newcastle has been very successful for us.”
Tiles into other states, Queensland
And now, Sydney. It has always
was the first market we wanted to
been a vision for National Tiles to take
pursue. My wife and I moved there
the business to Australia’s largest
and the whole process happened
city. After searching for the right
really quickly. It’s the best decision I
property for a number of years, the
ever made. To be honest it was very
team found the ideal site Alexandria.
challenging in the early days. But we
A very large building at over 8000sqm,
persevered and around 18 months
it’s the perfect location for making
after
we
a statement and launching into the
opened our first store. We’ve never
moving
to
Queensland
Sydney marketplace with maximum
looked back, and Queensland now
impact “It’s a cracking location, a
equates to around 45% of the National
great traffic hub and ideal for creating
Tiles business.”
the biggest National Tiles store in
After the foray into Queensland,
Australia,” says Nick.
National Tiles opened a number of
The store will bring a fantastic ‘in
stores in South Australia that have
stock’ range to Sydney offers great
become very successful operations.
value. “There are currently a number
