Luigi Lou Reillo arguably enjoyed an advantage because of his heritage when he journeyed to Italy, where some of the worlds finest tile is made, on several occasions before starting an imported-tile wholesale business here about 17 months ago.


I speak the language so I developed some friends there, says Reillo, 43, who was 11 when he and his mother immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in 1970. He adds that the tile makers he met on his business trips back to his native land were very kind in extending credit on a handshake when he finally decided to start his own enterprise, which has been important to the early success of his distributorship here.


That business, called Reillo Tile Co., now distributes porcelain, ceramic, and granite tile, and related installation products such as grouts and adhesives, to about 200 commercial customers in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and Montana. Those clients are mostly floor-covering stores that sell the tile to customers ranging from do-it-yourselfers to contractors for residential and commercial uses. The Spokane wholesaler also has begun marketing its products through architects and large commercial contractors to broaden its client base.


Reillo Tile, which employs eight people, moved last summer into a larger warehouse space in the Chimney Rock Industrial Park, at 3200 E. Trent, to accommodate increased demand. Reillo says he hopes to open a warehouse in the Seattle area to begin serving the Interstate 5 corridor, including Portland, later this year, if sales continue to grow, and also is eyeing the Boise market. He declines to discuss the companys revenues, other than to say, Were beating my projections, which I thought were optimistic, by 20 to 25 percent a month.


Reillo Tile specializes mostly in ceramic and porcelain tiles. Most of the tile that it imports is made in Italy but it also imports some tile from Spain and Brazil.


Reillo says the Italian tile is a little more expensive than what you can get in other countries, but the look is much better. Like in clothing, they set the trend.


He claims, though, that most of Reillo Tiles inventory would be considered to fall in a middle price range for the U.S. market, with an average retail price of around $6 to $8 a square foot, not including installation. For comparison, ceramic and porcelain tiles start at around $2 and $4 a square foot, respectively, and cost $10 to $12 a square foot at the upper end, but some granite and marble tiles can cost as much as $25 to $50 a square foot, he says.


Ceramic and porcelain tile both are made from silica, a hard glassy mineral, but differ in how theyre manufactured, Reillo says. Ceramic tile starts out as a wet clay, and is pressed with molds into desired shapes and sizes, then fired to about 1,600 degrees, he says. By comparison, porcelain tile starts out as a powder, and also is pressed into the desired form, but then is baked at a much higher temperature of up to 2,600 degrees, to the point where it vitrifies, which makes it impervious to moisture, he says. Porcelain tile thus is denser than ceramic tile, which means its less likely to break, and its frost-proof, so it can be used outdoors.


Porcelain tiles share of the overall tile market is growing steadily because its a superior product and its price has fallen to where it now is much more affordable to the average buyer, Reillo says.


Probably 90 percent or more of the tile that Reillo Tile sells is porcelain, since Italy now produces very little ceramic tile. Still, that type of tile, too, has become a much more versatile product, he claims.


Ceramic tile really is a fashion item, he says. There are so many different sizes and looks and glazes that you can put on the wall or floor that its just amazing.


Reillo says he strives to carry products that offer real fashion as opposed to your basic tile. That strategy only makes good business sense, he says, because, Its hard to sell an ugly product no matter what the price.


Tile is growing in popularity, has captured about 20 percent of the U.S. floor-covering market, and is one of few types of floor covering that can increase the value of a home, Reillo claims. Although tile is more expensive in many cases than other floor coverings, it is a permanent product thats designed to last indefinitely, he says.


Reillo is optimistic about his companys long-term growth prospects and says he hopes to expand its work force this year, if sales continue to grow at their current pace and if plans for a Seattle warehouse come together.


One of the companys strengths to date, he says, has been its fast turnaround on customer orders.


Reillo Tile has about 10,000 square feet of warehouse space and 1,500 square feet of office space in its new location at Chimney Rock, which is more than a third larger than its former location at the other end of the industrial park.


We have lots of inventory. Thats been one of our advantages. Its a big investmentweve got a lot of money tied up in tilebut youve got to service the customer, says Reillo.


The company has amassed what it believes is one of the Spokane areas biggest inventories of large-format tile, in 16- to 20-inch squares, along with the more traditional 12-inch square tile, he says.


The trend in floor tile has been to imitate stone and (to use) 16- to 20-inch squares. In California, they think 12 inches is small and ugly, Reillo says. With the larger tile, Instead of seeing a grid with the grout line, you get to see the tile, which makes it more appealing aesthetically, he says.


Reillo says his father, Pat Reillo, who had owned a tailors shop in Italy, came to the U.S. in 1959 and settled in Chicago, where he opened a tailoring and dry-cleaning business.


He says his father eventually decided, however, that Chicago wasnt a good place to raise a family and began making plans to return to Italy. First, though, he traveled to Spokane, in 1969, to visit his only brother, Joe.


After arriving here, Lou Reillo says, his father decided to stay, and soon thereafter the family was reunited here.


Reillo attended Gonzaga Prep and Rogers High School, but dropped out so he could work to help support the family. He moved to Portland to work as a tailor, attending night classes to obtain his general equivalency degree, and was there from about 1978 to 1984, after which he moved to Italy for several years.


After returning to Spokane, he got into the flooring business in 1992, working as a subagent selling carpeting throughout the Inland Northwest for Hummon & Associates, a Portland-based manufacturers representative. That companys owner, David Hummon, had been a customer at his tailor shop in Portland, Reillo says. Hummon went on to open some retail stores in Oregon, and I struck out on my own, about six years ago, becoming an independent sales agent and representing a number of flooring manufacturers, Reillo says. He says he developed a strong interest in tile while working with a Canadian-based distributor that was involved in that market.


Because I wanted to learn more about it, I actually paid my own way to go to some of the trade shows, Reillo says. I started meeting all of these people in Italy who make the products, which ultimately led him to start his own business, he says. He launched Reillo Tile in 2001.


The company rented some space on North Monroe from Warehouse Carpets for a few months before moving to Chimney Rock. To supplement its cash flow, Reillo says, he is continuing to spend some of his time working as a sales agent for manufacturers of other types of flooring products.


Looking back on the founding of his own enterprise, though, he says, I should have done it a long time ago. Our customers have been very supportive.