Are you looking to tile a bathroom or kitchen and need someone to do it? Bella Tile is a small shop with a good selection and often helpful service, which offers a fine alternative to the high-end tile shops near Union Square.
Bella Tile has almost anything you could want: 100 different brands of tiles in mosaic, glass, and stone and a good selection of hand painted tiles from Mexico and Spain. They will help you sift through the many possibilities, but it does help to know what you want first. Bringing in photographs or clippings from magazines really helps.
After a brief, abortive search through Home Depot [sailboats! sunflowers!], I went to Bella Tile today. They have a broad range of good quality tile, and I got several solid choices from them. The saleslady steered me away from both the tile that was out of my price range and the high maintence stuff. I really liked their choices, and while I'm still up in the air on the details, I am planning on getting my tile there. While they're missing the expensive, spectacular tile that you can find at Ann Sacks, I also didn't wander over to the $100 a sq foot stuff by mistake. I recommend a visit if you've looked at the big box stores and thought there must be better out there.
i feel i have to relate an exceptionally unpleasant experience at bella tile - which, understand, happened a few years ago, so it may have no bearing on the present situation. at that time, my then-bf and i went in to look for some tile, and were treated horribly - three (male) employees stood in the back of the showroom, alternately glaring and laughing at us, and at one point the word "fags" was heard by both of us. they made no move to help us, and in fact made us so uncomfortable, we left.
again, this happened some time ago, but i still remember how furious i was - and it has stuck with me to this day. personally, i'd never set foot in there again.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I know Bella Tile well... they certainly have their off days but mainly because its hard for them to find good help. I know the owners try to help out others by giving them a job but unfortunately some of them don't work out and they can't get rid of them quick enough. They are more geared towards commercial customers but don't be deterred... find the right salesperson and you can learn more here then anywhere else. They will tell you how a tile will wear and what it can handle. You will find tiles at the lowest possible mark-up and you can always sift through their "random" box of tiles and get some really great deals. They also have tiles that are decades old that are pretty cool.
I got my bath tile through bella after a disaster at nemo tile. (lesson learned: avoid nemo tile at any cost!!!!) Bella was helpful, prompt, adn their rice was decent. i reccomend them to everyone i work with (I am an architect) adn everyone has been pleased. The people both in the showroom and in the warehouse were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. i will galdly return for my next renovation project.