Here's why you should come to a specialty tile place and skip the big box hardware stores: selection, service, and variety of product.  Selection.  You're going to get a much wider selection of products here than you can get at a big box hardware store.  Obviously, the floor space dedicated to tile is much bigger here, and they have installed tile on their own floor to show you different designs and styles.Service.  Here, you get a dedicated salesperson who knows their stuff.  The depth of knowledge of the product and how to install the product is better here than anywhere else.  They'll even recommend three contractors to install your tile, and if none of them work out for you, they'll recommend three more until you're satisfied.Variety of Product.  Did you know that you can get glossy tile for the walls, then matte tile for the floors?  The big box hardware store only has the tile in glossy.  So when the tile gets wet, you're slipping and sliding on wet floor tiles.  Here, you can get the exact same tile in matte, or varying sizes such as 12 x 24 or 24 x 24 or bullnose, or any number of variations in the same tile.  The big box hardware store can't match that variety of product.