From outside, the new Mineola location for Brooklyn Metro Tiles looks like it could be a high-end bakery or magazine shop; the predominantly white walls and gleaming floor are easy to spot from the sidewalk through the large, classic small-town storefront windows designed from an earlier (but much beloved) era of design.
Inside, between model bathroom vanities and a newer-model coffeemaker for customers, various tile options are arranged in racks as if they are sprays of flowers or art magazines, spaced out across the store’s quietly decorative tile floors: a field of white occasionally embedded with a rich floral design.
Located at 500 Jericho Turnpike, the new location is Brooklyn Metro Tiles’ second showroom, expanding its previous service area from Coney Island. Family owned and operated, the firm also supplies brick surfacing, accessory items like grout, and other carefully chosen products for both profressional and DIY homeowners.
When Anton Media Group popped by for a visit in early August, father and son proprietors Nouhou and Sekou Makadji were happy to share a few insights and pointers on the materials at their location, where they’re offering 25 percent off of all products for the first two months that they’re open (roughly six more weeks).
They were also glad to answer our questions about the design of the store itself, which caught one of the Anton Media Group designers’ eye as it was coming together over the past few months.
Sekou Makadji explained, “We mainly wanted to make it so that every tile has its own space, so that a client can walk around and see all the different options, and each [variety] has space to ‘pop.’”
He added that he really likes tile as a material because of its versatility, durability, and wide variety of options for color and shape.
“If you want to design a kitchen, using tiles is easy: maybe ‘subway’ tiles for the backsplash, marble or quartz for the countertop…”
“Or mosaic for the backsplash, too,” his father, Nouhou, interjected, nodding toward the eye-catching display of warm-to-cool mosaic patterns the shop has in stock.
Sekou nodded in agreement, and pointed out that tile and grout can be used to achieve a much wider variety of colors, shapes, and even complex patterns than other popular materials like wood, for example.
“They have a lot of freedom,” he added. “And we want to give people the freedom to make their houses or [other spaces] a representation of themselves.”
Brooklin Metro Tiles is located at 500 Jericho Turnpike in Mineola and at 593 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn. Open daily in Mineola 7:00am to 5:00pm.
