FIVE new jobs will be created next month when the fourth World Of Tiles branch opens in Tralee.

But what makes the opening special is that the company’s Tralee owner is coming back to the building where he started his career around 20 years ago.

Donal Higgins will open the branch at the Mile Height on Saturday, April 8. The Ballybeggan native began working in Tile Market at the Mile Height when he was 18 and within a year he became a regional contracts manager.

Donal decided to broaden his horizons and left for Australia in 2000 where he ran a tile company, before returning closer to home to London where he was over the southern region of Tops Tiles, a renowned nationwide chain of tile shops.

He returned to Ireland in 2007 to run 30 shops for Tile Market nationwide, but soon after, Donal decided to branch out on his own and opened his first World Of Tiles shop in Mullingar.

It thrived and soon after he had a branch in Limerick followed two years later with a Dublin store. The Tralee store is a special one, especially in this location.

“Coming back to the start here brings everything full circle. I always wanted to open a store in Tralee and when the place where I started all those years ago came up, it was the icing on the cake. We’re looking to open more stores nationwide over the coming years,” said Donal, who now lives with his wife Fiona (nee O’Mahony, a native of Lisselton) and three children in Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath.

As well as being a retailer, World of Tiles is also a wholesaler and one of the largest importers of tiles in Ireland. Therefore, he’s promising the customer they won’t find better value on tiles anywhere and guarantees they’ll beat any like-for-like quotation by 5% the difference.

The store will also sell bathroom ware and a range of wood flooring.

So Saturday, April 8 will be a special day at the new Mile Height store with a grand opening and the Radio Kerry broadcasting from World Of Tiles on the day.