That is an excellent question. I am not totally convinced they are the same quality of product. There is Daltile in San Antonio and, of course, Home Depot. We bought our Daltile from HD, but it just doesn't seem the same as the true Daltile we bought from the Daltile store. They were used in different locations and not side by side, so it is hard to really compare them accurately.

Never trust box store quality.

Although the box stores likely get seconds, I have had great luck with Daltile's Continental Slate from the orange store. It was half the price of the small local tile shops, and the tile shop people were not as helpful as the tile person at the orange store. I usually prefer to buy local but I made an exception and have no regrets about buying tile for 3 bathrooms from the big store. The only difference I noticed was that 6" tiles were actually 12" tiles that had been cut down - but my tilesetter was able to hide the edge differences with good grouting.

Thank you all for the explanations of the difference of quality of tile!

Even as a pro, I can get better pricing at Homer vs my local Dal Tile. I just buy plenty extra and return the culls. ;^)

Pretty simple IMHO. At HD, check the tiles for consistency in size. Line them up and look for variations. Sight down the tile to look for excessive "bowing" or put two of them together and see if they "rotate" easily. Finally, get all the same dye lots. HD can have some decent tile from Rittenhouse or Marazzi or others. Just gotta check them out....