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In the mid 1990s, two brothers, Parminder “Peter” Pental and Ravinder “Ravi” Pental, owned and operated two convenience stores in the Tacoma, Washington area, but they wanted to run a business that connected them more closely to India, so they launched Pental Granite & Marble in 1999.

After opening the first store in a 10,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, their business has grown by leaps and bounds. The company now has three bustling locations in Washington and Oregon..

Pental Granite & Marble has become a leading source of tile and stone in the Pacific Northeast. Besides natural stone and porcelain, the company sells tiles made from glass, metal, terrazzo and handmade ceramics. Pental has also launched a national campaign to brand its own line of quartz slabs, Chroma Quartz by Pental. Another brand, Ecoline, highlights green sustainable tile and slab options, including products locally made and recycled. A third brand, Urban Life, is aimed to the firm’s dealer network, targeting tiles to budget-minded consumers.

Peter Pental grew up near Delhi, loving American movies as a child and traveling miles to see the latest release. He dropped out of Delhi University and immigrated to the U.S., with his parents’ consent, at the age of 18 with just $60 in his pocket. After living in Ventura, Calif., he joined his brother in moving to Tacoma in 1992 to buy the convenience store with about $25,000 they cobbled together. They later expanded to a second store, but the stone and tile idea surfaced.

“A classmate of mine had a granite business in India,” Peter Pental told the Puget Sound Business Journal in a 2008 interview. “I did my research for months. He steered me in the right direction, and I took a chance. It paid off. That kind of challenge is very important to me. Either you grow or you perish.”

Pental placed an initial order from contacts in India for 17 containers of stone, including large slabs of granite and marble and 12×12 tiles of granite, marble and slate.The two brothers and their wives worked hard and sold the large slabs exclusively through slab fabricators, many of whom are still customers today, he said.

Pental originally anticipated demand for about 15 containers of tile and slab per month, but the company quickly exceeded that target.
While granite and slate from India is a mainstay, Pental also travels worldwide to personally inspect and select materials from Italy, Spain, Brazil, Peru and China and other countries, he told India-West. Porcelain tile, introduced in 2003, has become one of the company’s most successful offerings. In 2004 the warehouse space was expanded and a new showroom at the original location was redesigned. In 2005, the company opened a showroom in Portland, Ore., which was followed in 2007 by a third showroom in Fife, Wash.

Pental told India-West that the poor economy has led many people to put off buying new homes and do upgrades on their homes with stones work and tiling. Pental Granite & Marble now has more than 75 staff, 200,000 square feet of warehouse space, over $18 million in inventory and is represented at 150 dealer stores Its products have been used in many commercial projects in the U.S., including Indigo 12 West and the Murano Hotel in Tacoma, Heathman Hotel in Portland, Chicago Children’s Hospital, the University of Texas at Austin Performing Arts Center, Mirabella Retirement Community, Starbucks, Holland America cruise ship, and Seven Feathers Casino.

Full India West article here.