The shift to online shopping, sometimes viewed as a threat to small retailers, is the foundation of Bayfield-based Mexican Tile Design’s business.
Andy Kayner and his wife, Jenny Wrenn, import hand-painted tiles and sinks from eight suppliers in Mexico and then ship them out across the U.S. and internationally.
The company opened in 2011 and struggled for the first two years until Kayner revamped the company’s website to make it more Google friendly. That year, the business saw 180 percent growth and it has enjoyed double-digit growth every year since. Now the couple imports about 2,000 pounds of product every week and carries hundreds of designs.
The couple was inspired to start their business after they struggled to find the tile they needed for the adobe home they built. There were a few websites offering tile but not many.
They traveled to Arizona and New Mexico and found businesses would have a few boxes of tile but not enough for a whole project, such as a bathroom shower.
From the beginning, they planned for a mainly web-based business because of the small population in the area.
Florida, California and Texas are some of their largest markets, but they have orders coming in from as far away as Australia, Europe, Costa Rica and many other areas.
“About 90 percent of our sales are web-based and 10 percent local, and that’s how we can afford to be here,” Wrenn said.
They believe web-based businesses make sense for other specialty companies in the area as well, because of the area’s small population.
While most people find Mexican Tile Design online, it regularly has travelers who come out to see the tile in person.
Setting up business relationships with companies was a big first step, and Kayner and Wrenn traveled to Mexico to set them up in person with a Mexican agent.
“There is not a like an industrial directory you can go to to find these people,” he said. They also do not have websites.
In 2014, the couple hired Sergio Perez, from Peru, who manages their relationships with suppliers and who has helped the business grow. Perez moved to Durango in 2013 with his wife, who is from Gunnison.
They travel to Mexico every year. Perez’s good relationships with suppliers allow him to put in orders for specialty designs.
To absorb growth and better manage deliveries, the company moved from behind Artesanos Design Collection on Second Avenue and Seventh Street to Bayfield in November 2015.
Although the couple wanted to keep their business in Durango, they couldn’t find the warehouse space.
This year they are expanding again, remodeling half of their building – which was formerly occupied by a restaurant – to double their space and bring it up to about 5,000 square feet.
“We are starting to see the maturation of this business,” he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Sergio Perez.
