By Ryan O’Dowd: Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
November 19th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Giant Tile hosted a grand opening event for their Burlington location at 1515 North Service Road. Thursday evening.
The location specializes in contemporary designer lighting, home automation, kitchen and bath fixtures, porcelain, and quartz slabs, and flooring.
Giant Tile offering a full range of home improvement and upgrade products.
The first of two “opening” events was focused on the home renovation industry who got a look at the sleek new location; meet the staff and the owners.
Tile Giant opens to the public tomorrow Friday morning, and will feature a weekend barbeque from Friday to Sunday (running from 10 am to 5 pm each day). All are welcome to the barbeque where Tile Giant will be running a 20% off storewide sale during the balance of the weekend.
Ashfaq Shaikh, a co-owner of Tile Giant, touted the new location’s showroom concept as unique in Canada. He suggested Tile Giant is one of few professional design centers in North America for business to business and retail customers.
Located at 1515 North Service Road close to the Costco Centre.
“People think of design centers as more for furniture but I think before the furniture that the tiles, the lights, home automation, and plumbing are very important. We tie all of that together in the design center.”
Tile Giant has a location in Vaughan: Shaikh said he sees “Burlington as one of the fastest-growing markets. Burlington is the center of Oakville, Milton, Hamilton, and a lot of new developments in the GTA just outside of Toronto. This is a great central location, close to the QEW, close to Costco, and close to IKEA – we are a business hub,” said Shaikh.
The founder of Tile Giant, Agostino Gotto, was called out of semi-retirement to help his successors with the launch of the store. Gotto cited the Godfather to joke about his attempted retirement, “just when I thought I was out they pulled me back in.” Gotto was excited to see the fruits of his labour flourish.
“Let’s just say I wish I was twenty years younger, that should tell you how it’s going,” said Gotto.
Tile Giant is working on developing other locations throughout Canada and plotting expansion into the United States. It is not hard to see why Gotto wished his younger self remained as the hands-on owner of the newest enterprise. Though he didn’t rule out being pulled back into the business again, saying he was game for “no more than five more store openings” with a laugh.
Cocktails and hors-d’oeuvres were served by Life is an Event catering. Staff and investors were thanked in speeches by the co-owners and with food and drink.
Fully staffed – ready to serve
Tile Market had no problems attracting staff to their new location, they are fully staffed, and are excited to kick off their operation just in time for the Christmas season, their busiest time of the year.
Tile Giant’s products reflect the upscale contemporary vibe they are after. The company says they have a range of products for every budget. The company’s website allows visitors to book a design consultation online and has a visualization feature that shows off their different products in household room mockups.
The ownership board opted out of a group photo at their new location and suggested the beautiful ladies at the party, involved in varying degrees with Tile Giant, pose for the Gazette instead. It’s hard to argue with that business acumen.
