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The story of Ceramic Decor

It is early in the morning of another hectic day at ceramic décor for George Durigon.

The owner and president of Ceramic Décor Centre - the largest tile store in Kitchener Guelph Cambridge area -- doesn't dream of early retirement for all his efforts. For him, the dream is of the growth of his company.

But he's already seen a lot of that in the past 25 years.

"My family immigrated to Canada from Northern Italy in 1963," George says. "My father was a painting contractor for most of those years but he saw an opportunity to start a specialty tile store in Guelph."

Oddone Durigon opened the Ceramic Décor Centre in September, 1983, in a 1,500 square foot building at the corner at Victoria Road and Elizabeth Street. He was helped by having a partner for the first six months and by having three sons who were interested in learning the business.

His eldest son, George, was 17 and a senior in high school when he started working for his dad after school. Then as soon he finished high school, he started work there full-time. He was joined by younger brothers, Rob and Tony, who worked there part-time.

Oddone had obviously found a niche in the market and the business was doing so well that in 1988 they moved it to a much larger location at the corner of York Road and Watson Road.

The business kept growing and in about 1991, when Rob finished university, he, too, joined the company full-time. However in a few years he left to start his own company  - Granite Works, a granite and stone fabrication shop, which is now located right behind the Ceramic Décor Centre. Tony later went on to become a chief estimator in the construction business, which left George and his father the only family members at Ceramic Décor Centre.

The business continued to flourish but Oddone became less and less involved in the business, and was fully retired by the end of the 1990s.

Then in 1999 the company moved again – to its present location at 987 York Road.

The specially-built store, covering over 21,000 square feet with showroom, office and huge warehouse space, is ten times the size of the original 1983 store.

"It rivals the size of the tile stores in the GTA," says George.

At the root of any successful company is its employees, and George is quick to acknowledge the loyalty and expertise of his staff of more than 31 men and women.

"I'm fortunate to have so many dedicated employees, some who have been here from 10 to 20 years'" he says, "and we are constantly training new people."

"Much of our installing work is done by staff, not sub-contractors" he says. "It's old-fashioned, but we like it that way and I think the customers do, too.

There is a highly-trained sales staff working in the showroom, a spacious area with hundreds of samples of tile and natural stone.

"We import tile from Spain, Portugal and Italy," says George, "and every year we go to North America's largest tile trade show to make sure we bring in the most innovative trends in the marketplace.

George's philosophy is to stay focused on what they specialize in – tile and natural stone - no other floor covering.

That could be the key to his success because market trends showed that more tile was being chosen as floor coverings.

The company continued to grow. Now the Ceramic Décor Centre installs tile in hundreds of new homes a year in the Golden Triangle area.

"We are one of Ontario's biggest home tile contractors."

But even if business is good, staying still isn't an option, so George is again taking it to the next level.

"The focus is on informing people. We're continually adding new things to make it easier for the customer to find what he wants."

The present Ceramic Decor web site www.ceramicdecor.com is being expanded to catalogue everything the company sells, so the customer can easily get a complete list of products as well as other related information.

As well they are working on a demonstration DVD for those customers who want to tile the floor themselves and need a little guidance with the project. Right now there is a printed "how-to" brochure they hand out but a DVD would be even better.

So there's a lot going on at the Ceramic Décor Centre.

The challenge to improve the business, the desire for it to evolve and grow, is a constant with George, but his personal satisfaction is simply the feeling of accomplishment.

His father, Oddone, who died a year ago this month, had the satisfaction of seeing the business grow and become successful.

"We will continue his vision and would like it to continue to be a family operation," says George.

Perhaps he's thinking of his two sons, Matthew, 12 and Alexander, nine.

But they're a little young, yet.

Maybe.