The History of Standard Tile

It’s time to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Standard Tile! For the last century, Standard Tile has been providing award winning service and top-of-the-line products to homeowners, contractors, and business owners of New Jersey. While tile trends have come and gone, one thing remains sure: Standard Tile is here to stay.

Let’s take a moment to explore the history of this long-standing family company.

The 20s: Founded on Quality and Service

Originally founded in 1920 by Philip Spina of Brooklyn, NY, Standard Tile’s first shop opened at 854-862 Rockaway Avenue. Named after “Standard Oil Company,” the dream was for Standard Tile to be a high-quality business, focused on customer service and experience above all else. For the next 25 years, Philip Spina and his nephew, William H. Spina, worked at the Brooklyn location and continued to expand their customer base, all while building a tremendous inventory of bathroom, living room, and kitchen tile.

The 50s: Family-Backed Expansion through New Jersey

Both Philip and William shared a common goal: expanding beyond the borders of Brooklyn. In 1952, they decided to expand into New Jersey, and would swiftly become mainstays of the New Jersey community. They chose Totowa, a suburb of Paterson as the first city that they would expand into, as it didn’t have a major ceramic tile distributor at the time.

After opening their new Totowa location, they brought in William’s brother Chris, and daughter Marie. Standard Tile has remained a strong, family-founded company throughout all this time.

Standard Tile was thriving on high-quality services and a wide range of material availability. After 10 successful years in Totowa, they decided to expand again. At this point, Standard Tile was looking for a location that had more homeowners and DIYers — a new market for the exceptional inventory of ceramic tiles that they had built.

The 60s: DIYers and Homeowners Become a New Emphasis

William saw that the tile world was changing. With premixed tile adhesive, it was increasingly possible for non-professionals to tackle tile jobs on their own. They could no longer just sell to contractors, but also needed to consider selling directly to homeowners. By 1962, he had opened a new location on US Highway 46 West, which would serve both the contractor base and a swiftly-evolving retail clientele.

Rapid expansion would come next. In the next four years, Standard Tile would open up two new locations. The Roxbury location was opened on April 15, 1963, and ran by Spina’s son, William Spina Jr. This tile store was targeting homeowners who were moving into this area for less expensive housing. The Jersey City location was opened on October 10, 1966. This would become the third home of the expanding company.

The 70s and the 80s: Wholesale and International Trading

By 1979, Standard Tile had started selling wholesale to other tile retailers, and had created a division of its business — Standard Tile Imports — to import tiles internationally and supply Northeast America. This allowed them to further expand and secure their place within the tile industry.

The Spina family realized early on the importance of placing their showrooms on major highways. In 1989 they expanded again with a new store on Rt 10 in East Hanover to capture even more of the retail business. This proved to be a tremendous success.

The 90s and the 00s: Moving through the South

During the spring of 1992, the Standard Tile group bought land in Edison, NJ, and established Standard Tile Edison. Now they were able to expand further south, allowing access to central Jersey. The Spina family then decided to build a state-of-the-art showroom and add more warehouse space in Edison, which was then the furthest store from the main warehouse in Totowa.

And they weren’t finished expanding. The next addition was opened in December 2000, in the new Watchung Square mall.

• Standard Tile was founded 100 years ago in Brooklyn, NY, by Philip Spina.
• Over the last century, Standard Tile steadily expanded into New Jersey, moving from north to south.
• By keeping control of the company within the family, Standard Tile has been able to remain exceptionally high-quality and customer-friendly.

A 5th Generation Business — With 5 Generations of Values

As we move into 2020, Standard Tile is now a 5th generation business, with many members of the 4th and 5th generation currently managing and operating all locations. By keeping the company within the family, Standard Tile has been able to ensure that its values remain strong: high-quality products, a wide scale inventory, and the best in customer service.

Finding Tile Stores Near Me

Wherever you are in NJ, there should be a Standard Tile store near you. Standard Tile was built on family and is still operating on the same values and opportunities provided to them in the past. Want to learn more? Visit Standard Tile today.