SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — With the warm weather underway in the Lake Tahoe basin, locals and businesses are rolling up their sleeves, soaking up the sunshine, and making the much anticipated renovations ahead of the summer season. 

Of the many renovations that happen during spring, common jobs such as renovating floors, bathrooms, and indoor and outdoor kitchens is a commonality amongst many; and local business South Lake Tile and Stone is paving the way, providing customers with premier products to spruce up your business or home. 

Owners and couple, Kestrel and Chris Aguilar, took a chance and purchased the tile and stone store in 2019, evolving the shop from the previous tile outlet to an elevated, high end showroom. Chris initially got his foot in the door with flooring while in college, where he was working during the summer at the tile shop.  

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“I started in this business working at this location as a summer job back in 2010,” Chris said. “I had no plans of continuing to stay after the summer season, but the previous owner took me under his wing and encouraged me to not go back to college, telling me that he’d teach me more about business working here. It was a tough decision, but I took a chance.” 

Upon taking that chance, Chris adapted and quickly began learning from his mentor, the previous owner of Tile Outlet, where he received “blood, sweat, and tears equity,” according to Chris. 

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“Over the years the owner kept trying to sell the business,” Chris said. “Over time, he finally approached me, encouraging to sell the business to me. He gave me an incredible offer that I couldn’t refuse, so we happily took it.” 

Since Chris has been involved in a management position at the shop, the Aguilar’s have proactively worked towards enhancing the business; working over the last seven years to convert the space to reflect a high-end showroom with a variety of products available. When the Aguilar’s officially purchased the shop in 2019, they rebranded and opened under the name South Lake Tile and Stone. 

“The store used to have pallets on the floor where people could pick and choose what they wanted directly from a rather short selection of materials, but in the last 10 years Tahoe has really evolved itself,” Chris said. “We went from a lot of vacation rentals and inexpensive remodels to high-end homes, with high-end remodels, with an influx of higher-end clientele in town that are doing full remodels of everything.” 

South Lake Tile and Stone is a one-stop shop for all tile and stone products, specializing specifically in hard surfaces such as porcelain, ceramic, natural stone products, and quartz and granite countertops. The shop also offers the additional materials that are needed for hard surface jobs. 

“There’s a lot of different options that come from many different vendors, but for the most part they’re all great, durable products,” Chris said. “We also offer the materials that go with the tile and stone products, such as the grout, tools, and setting materials for the professionals that need stuff up here instead of having to go down the hill for the essentials.” 

Providing essential products in a narrow market, South Lake Tile and Stone is always pushing for continuous growth, and encourages their customers and clientele to ask questions about the products that the shop offers.

“As a local, I live and shop here as well, and I tried my best to build my business around that,” Chris said. “We are always open to hearing what our customers need and if we don’t have that product, I try my best to bring it in to have it accessible. We definitely change and adapt to what’s going on and from the feedback from our customers.” 

Fulfilling their broad selection of products, name brands such as Emser Tile & Natural Stone, Elysium Tiles, Arizona Tile, and Stone Universe products are all available at South Lake Tile and Stone, among others, providing a wide variety of products for most projects.

Celebrating the kickoff of the summer season, South Lake Tile and Stone hosted an event to thank their loyal customers and welcome new prospective clientele, as well as celebrate their business in the South Lake Tahoe community. 

“This event is really a thank you to our customers, clients, and contractors ahead of the summer season; as well as we want to welcome new customers to our store and let them know we are here for all your local tile and stone needs,” Chris said.

“We know the winter was hard and there’s a lot of houses that took a big hit this season,” Kestrel said. “We really want to get the word out to help support all our locals and let them know we are here to help you with all your remodeling tile and stone needs. This is a family business, it’s just us two and our daughter, we’re longtime locals and very rooted in our local community. We are here and open to help however we can.” 

South Lake Tile and Stone’s is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and is located at 1950 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, Suite 5A in South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, visit southlaketile.com or call 530-444-6490.