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Tile Salesman Has Worn Many Hats Through Life

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

ODESSA - James Fand is no stranger to changes in direction.

When he opened his tile business in Tampa 25 years ago, he had little experience as a salesman.

He did have a geology background, which he thought would give him a leg up on the competition.

'I knew all the components of these products - the reactions of different cements, the chemical composition of the stones,' he said.

Fand owns the Tile Connection, 5906 Johns Road. The 20,000 square-foot store, supplying residential and commercial dealers, includes a warehouse and showroom. The tiles, imported mostly from Europe, range in price from 99 cents to $3 per square foot.

'I'm a wholesale type guy,' he said. 'Anybody can come into my store and pay what a big client pays.'

Fand works to keep his overhead low - there are just seven employees, most of whom have worked with him for years.

'We run it as a family-type of organization,' he said. 'Everyone takes vacations at the same time.'

Born in Columbia in 1946, Fand earned degrees in geology and literature from Hunter College in 1974. He taught high school Earth Science and Spanish in New York City during the mid-1970s.

A new direction took Fand out of the country in 1977, to Cuba, where he spent two years working for the State Department in a program called 'family reunion.'

'A lot of the situation with Cuba is classified,' he said, adding that he was part of a group that made it possible for Cubans who had left the island to go back and visit their families.

'Prior to that, Cubans who had left because of Communism were not allowed to go back,' he said.

By 1980 Fand and his wife, Maria, settled in Miami, where he opened an electronics business.

'We thought that Tampa was too town-ish for us, so we opted for South Florida,' he said, 'but after three years down there we didn't like it and kept coming over to Tampa.'

Fand said he fell in love with the Odessa area on his first visit there.

'I immediately knew that's where I wanted to be,' he said. 'The beauty of the lakes and the wildlife - the solitude of the place as compared to living in South Tampa; you cannot put a value to that.'

When he decided to build a house in the area, the choices of ceramic tiles were limited.

'I realized since I knew about this industry, there was a market for it here,' he said.

It was time for another change in direction.

Twenty-five years later, Fand and his wife work at the Tile Connection. They own homes on Rock Lake in Keystone and on Whirley Road on the Lutz/Odessa border.

Fand is treasurer for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Hispanic Advisory Council and is on the advisory committee for zoning in northwest Hillsborough County. He also works with the county's water department as an adviser in the fight to protect wellheads.

He became involved with the Keystone Civic Association 15 years ago, taking an active role in population-growth issues, working to keep Odessa's rural qualities intact.

'If the Keystone/Odessa/Lutz organizations had not participated extensively as citizen advisory councils to maintain the atmosphere in the area the past 15 years, this area would be what New Tampa is right now,' he said.

Fand compares Hillsborough County to Miami two decades ago, where smaller zoning decisions lead to more concrete than greenery.

'Now with the issue of global warming, it's becoming even more important,' he said. 'Changes are part of growth. We cannot close our eyes to it, but when we lose, to some degree, the qualities we've had in that area for years, we should try to maintain it as much as possible.'
TILE CONNECTION
LOCATION: 5906 Johns Road

HOURS: 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Weekdays; 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays

CONTACT: (813) 886-0576

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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