Tiles....to buy in France or Spain?

[Rose]

I bought my tiles from the garden centre in La Jonquera. They have a showroom attached to the garden centre and they had to be ordered from the supplier. I needed both floor tiles and skirting tiles. I had to wait 3 weeks but they were delivered for 100 euros. I made a considerable saving.

[Steve&Julie]

Blackduff, do you (or anyone else) know the name of this place, is it called Tile King or something like that? Have driven miles to find it but with no luck as others have told me about it! Please help!


"I had a friend who bought all of his tiles in Spain. He said the place where he bought was on the south side of Figueras on the route national. This isn't the by-pass. It's on the right side about 1~2 kms from the center of Figueras. It's a large place, from what he said. "

Can anyone say if Point P have tiles in stock or do you have to wait for them? We have to buy everything off the shelf as we are only there 1 week in 8 so can't take in deliveries. Had a quote from a brilliant young man in Mas Gueridos who spoke English - bit pricey but we would have gone ahead if it had not been an eight week lead time.

[Rose]

You go almost to the end of the main road in La Jonquera towards Figueres.

There is a roundabout and a garden centre on the left of it.

[Rose]

Tile place is attached to garden centre.

[TOM AND BARB]

Hello Steve and Julie

La Jonquera garden centre -- have bought tiles and accesories from there.If you haggle you can get 20% discount of a lot of the prices.

There are 2 tile places in Figueres that I know of.

One is called 'Frias' and is just off the next roundabout beyond Carrefour's in Figueras in the direction of Roses.

The other is on the same road towards Empurria Brava near a golf pitch and putt.I think its called 'Export' something. Its very big has a huge range,flashy showroom but is quite expensive by Spanish prices.

Recently we visited a tile end of range yard in Perpignan just past the Decathlon roundabout (suicide roundabout as we call it).On the next roundabout towards the prison head back in towards the town and a few hundred metres on the left you will see a big fibre glass BLUE statue of liberty.!!!
The yard has big quantities of end of ranges and we bought 70 square metres of good exterior tiles at 8 euros a metre.Apart from the price saving you have the tiles instantly without having to wait.
Bought adhesive elsewhere though as they are not that competitive on adhesive.

If you need more precise directions pm me.Will look it up on google earth for you.

Point P --- we found them expensive,not that helpful and even though we spent over 2000 euros there on tiles wanted to charge 120 euros delivery from the Saint Andre yard to our house in Sorede !!!! and didnt want to give any discount on the price of adhesive.
Tiles arrived in 4 weeks, skirting tiles took 10 weeks !!!!
Would not use them again knowing what I do now about alternative sources.At the time we were new to the area, need things quickly and didnt know where else to shop.

If you need more info pm me.

Regards
T&B

[john]

Blackduff, do you (or anyone else) know the name of this place, is it called Tile King or something like that? Have driven miles to find it but with no luck as others have told me about it! Please help!


.

I guess you are talking about Roi du Carrelage,Steve. It's a Spanish firm that is aimed at the French market,with branches in several locations. They've got one in Le Boulou,near Intermarché/Netto, but by far the biggest and best is in the small village of Medinya on the old main road just North of Girona. I've looked round there on several occasions,and prices seem competitive,though I've never actually bought from there.

[Steve&Julie]

THat is all fascinating and really good of you all to take the time to post. We are coming over tomorrow (yippee) so will be going around in earnest hoping to buy this time for tiling at Easter so we can get straight on. We had a bit of trouble finding outside tiles in the nice plain glazed surface teracotta shade that we were told at Mas Gueridos is now 'not liked' by French folk. We adore it and the greys, browns, creams and marbles just wouldn't suit our little traditional village house. Am printing off all your comments and taking them with us (no broadband!) and will let everyone know when we get back next week so thank you all once again xxxxxx

[Steve&Julie]

Hi we're back! What a wet week! However, dispite the rain storm we did find Le roi du Carrelage (passed it on the main N11 at Meinya on the right hand side on the way from Gerona airport) and got sorted with our tiles. For information the salesman called Alexandra speaks quite good English, is extremely patient and helpful and we gave him our budget per square M and he showed us exactly what we wanted (terracotta coloured exterior thttp://www.elreidelarajola.com/iles 20m step nose plates and skirtings). The tiles are in stock but the nose plates and skirts have to be ordered. We ordered and agreed to collect from the Le Boulou store in April. Although the place looked a bit off-putting from the outside and not at all what we had in our minds, they have everything and are really nice and professional. Their website is: www.elreidelarajola.com thanks for all your help again.

[john]

Good to know you got sorted,Steve. I did not realise you could order from stock in Medinya and collect from the Le Boulou depot. Certainly a facility worth knowing in the future.

[Sue]

Has anyone compared prices at the Medinya and Le Boulou stores. I would be interested to know whether the same shop is cheaper over the border.

[harleybin]

When I built my house, the salesman used to be a tile salesman. During our talks, he mentioned that the best tiles come from Italy. Both Spain and France create their tiles in two firings. The Italians manage to do the whole process in one firing.

Yep, and they're all around one region in Italy, near Reggio Emilia, Sassuolo, Imola, and some in the Veneto region as well, if you can't go there (real shame as the food there is just amazing!) contact this buying agent www.sourcingitaly.com and he certainly will find you the best prices available in the whole of Italy for a small fee.

[martyn94]

A bit late, but I can warmly recommend MAT Carrelages, a few kms beyond Le Roi des Carrelages on the N11 to Figueres (just this side of a BP station). I went there originally (on the advice of the manufacturers) for some terre cuite that are also available at Point P. About 2/3 the price, and unlike Point P they knew the product and gave helpful advice about how to treat them. Fluent French and English and rapid delivery, cheaper than Point P. I have bought various other tiles since, at excellent prices: they have a good range of samples, and have always been friendly and professional.

[malcolmcooper]

A bit late, but I can warmly recommend MAT Carrelages, a few kms beyond Le Roi des Carrelages on the N11 to Figueres (just this side of a BP station). I went there originally (on the advice of the manufacturers) for some terre cuite that are also available at Point P. About 2/3 the price, and unlike Point P they knew the product and gave helpful advice about how to treat them. Fluent French and English and rapid delivery, cheaper than Point P. I have bought various other tiles since, at excellent prices: they have a good range of samples, and have always been friendly and professional.

I'll second that, great shop, great service, great prices.

[Bouze07]

Richard. I ALWAYS buy my tiles in Spain. Quality for quality I'd say they are about 20% less compared to France.

It all depends on what you want,and of course you can buy cheap tiles in France,particularly at the Leroy Merlins/Casto's of this world. But I had some horrrendous experiences quality -wise there.

The places in Mas Guerido etc,Perpignan crédit certainly do a wide range,and quality is excellent,but prices are high. I know some talk of discounts,but I really don't want to start haggling.

In any case the prices for comparable quality in Spain are lower,even after haggling in France,so why bother?

There are loads of places in Figueras,but even nearer is Mercader in La Jonq. The staff,particularly Montse,Laura and Ivan are very helpful. Admittedly I do have the advantage of speaking Spanish,but you should get by with French. The number of French who go there to buy tells its own story.

Yes, Tails in Spain are the best