3.20 meter long tiles, innovative laying methods and modern looks – these are the features that make Fliesen Waldhier ‘s range so special and bring customers into the store from as far away as the Austrian border. While it all started in the 70s with a small craft business in Hallbergmoos, today Fliesen Waldhier presents itself on 900 square meters of retail space in a beautiful, spacious showroom. Managing Director Alexander Waldhier told us exactly how the success story has developed and what visions and values drive his company.
Bright, high, large, modern: The new showroom on Zeppelinstrasse is a sight to behold
Bright, high-ceilinged rooms, concrete walls and floors: Fliesen Waldhier’s showroom at Zeppelinstraße 25 has a modern design, the airy space is filled with sales tables, large-format tile displays immediately catch the eye and in smaller rooms to the side, sample tiling can be seen so that customers can better imagine the goods in actual use. Fliesen Waldhier is a tile dealer and master craftsman’s business that sells tiles, wood and vinyl flooring and mosaics, but has also remained a traditional craftsman’s business and offers an all-round service including installation. The history shows: Something has grown here. Since 1976, Fliesen Waldhier has been a tiling company that has continued to develop from a one-man operation. Today, the Hallbergmoos-based company has 23 employees, five of whom provide advice in the showroom.
Major investment in a successful future
The big leap came at the beginning of 2018, when Susanne and Alexander Waldhier, who had taken over the management a year earlier, wanted to give room to new visions: They created a new location. The new building at Zeppelinstraße 25 offers more space and uncomplicated handling of goods. “Previously, the storage rooms were around three kilometers away from the store. Today, everything is much simpler and very convenient for us and our customers. We have space, it’s airy and we can present our goods well,” says Managing Director Alexander Waldhier. The location at the MABP Hallbergmoos is great: “We are easily accessible here at the northern entrance to the town, close to the main road and the proximity to Munich, Freising and Erding is also very interesting, because you are in the middle of everything and can also work well across districts.” The family also didn’t want to leave the town, as the name was already familiar and Hallbergmoos was their home.
Visionary couple as managing directors
Alexander Waldhier married into the long-established family of craftsmen from Hallbergmoos a few years ago. But he is also a craftsman: from an early age, the 43-year-old was involved in building stoves with his uncle and then went on to become a master tiler. His wife Susanne took a different path and, as a graduate in business administration, has been responsible for purchasing and sales in the family business since 2003. A good combination that creates visions and drives the business forward. The initial goal for the next few years is to keep the business stable, to further position itself on the market and to continue to expand the product range in line with market developments. “We want to position ourselves perfectly for all customers in every price segment and also be not only a specialist retailer, but also a trading company,” explains Alexander Waldhier on further planning.
Quality gets around, or: the motto is to keep at it
So far, customers have mainly come by recommendation, business customers mainly from the region, but private customers live all over Bavaria. Their satisfaction is also reflected in the excellent ratings on the Internet. However, the Waldhiers always want to keep at it, which is why they have launched several advertising campaigns, including several commercials on Radio Arabella this year. Whether this has paid off or not remains to be seen, says the master craftsman. Keeping at it and moving forward is the Waldhiers’ motto anyway, as you can hear when talking to the 43-year-old. For example, when the question “But you don’t have parquet flooring, do you?” was frequently asked, the busy managing director couple gathered intensive information, attended training courses, made new sales contacts and finally added wooden flooring to their range.
Customers should say: “When it comes to tiles, you can’t get any better”
“It’s very important to us that customers can find everything they’re looking for here and think ‘there’s nothing more’. That should be the impression customers get,” explains Alexander Waldhier, who sees his company’s particular strength in providing advice. “We try to get the best out of every room for our customers. Whether it’s a kitchen, hallway, bathroom or pool area: we want the optimum solution for our customers that looks good and stays within budget.” The Waldhiers select the entire range themselves. “We visit various trade fairs or factory representatives present their new products here with us. We then select the tiles, parquet and vinyl flooring that we like best from the large international range and that we think our customers will also love.” Despite its all-round claim, the tile trade is particularly strong in the outdoor area, pool surrounds and modern large formats. This can also be seen in the exhibition in the showroom, where there are impressive tiles, some of them huge, that are not often seen elsewhere.
Image material © Fliesen Waldhier
