# KWAL is no more in KC.



## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

I went for my favorite ceiling paint.. the dead flat Macco.. and saw Ben Moore among other brands in the store.. was ?!?!?! WTF??? sure nuff.. I guess the company was bought out (at least in KC) and they are selling off all the old, they have a lot of new product I have never heard of. They gave me what they said was comparable.. to it.. and it was good.

But.. wow. I have heard of California paint going out of biz in some spots, and?? who else?... forget.. Porter has been on the run for years.. 

Just weird when one of the heavy hitters (even more so since the economy has been sucking pond water).. and these guys got A LOT of biz because of the structure of their company.. up and comer, paid better than the other paint manufacture co's.. and had WAY cheaper paint.. 

anyway. It was really surprising to me to see that the "cheap" company went out of biz basically.

This happening your way?


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## Schmidt & Co. (Nov 6, 2008)

All sorts of consolidation here the last few years. Benjamin Moore is buying up all the local chain paint stores, and the mom and pop independents are getting few and far between. Kind of sad actually. I like Moore's, but I don't like the "corporate" feel at my local paint stores.


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## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

nEighter said:


> I went for my favorite ceiling paint.. the dead flat Macco.. and saw Ben Moore among other brands in the store.. was ?!?!?! WTF??? sure nuff.. I guess the company was bought out (at least in KC) and they are selling off all the old, they have a lot of new product I have never heard of. They gave me what they said was comparable.. to it.. and it was good.
> 
> But.. wow. I have heard of California paint going out of biz in some spots, and?? who else?... forget.. Porter has been on the run for years..
> 
> ...


Good to know KWAL is going out of business. Last time I was there, they were very disrespectful


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## CliffK (Dec 21, 2010)

Schmidt & Co. said:


> All sorts of consolidation here the last few years. Benjamin Moore is buying up all the local chain paint stores, and the mom and pop independents are getting few and far between. Kind of sad actually. I like Moore's, but I don't like the "corporate" feel at my local paint stores.


 Same thing happened here a while back. BM bought out some local chains they say -"to preserve their place in the market". What happened was we all found out-even BM, that they aren't very good at operating paint stores!! They also got rid of everything in the store that wasn't somehow tied to BM and business suffered. They then sold the stores to another local independent chain and it has been little better since. Now for the past couple years BM is in Ace Hardware. We've had most mom & pop independents disappear.
It's a feeding frenzy out there. Rustoleum taking over Zinsser, Valspar buying Cabot's, SW owning Purdy and "covering the earth"!!!! etc........big and corporate is obviously where it is at right now.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

I hope they're not going out of business here. No one's said anything. The rep still calls and leaves the same "let me know if you need anything" message every couple weeks like always...but I did notice the store closest to me seems to be "out" of a lot of items lately.

I'll investigate.

Thanks N8


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Never even heard of them out here - at least in the mid valley.

Kelly Moore is the only national company that has been in decline here but they have been bought up by a regional company, Miller Paint, that just went from 39 stores to 48. So, one is in decline and another on the rise. Capitalism in action.

We don't have an actual BM store here, just a department inside a lumber yard building. Miller and SW are the two big boys in town - oh yeah, and there is HD :thumbdown:.


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

comex owns, Color Wheel Paint, General Paint, Frazee Paint, Parker Paint and Kwal Paint. they have been working on products that all stores will carry, so no matter what store you go in they will have the same products, labels etc.


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## the paintman (Feb 3, 2012)

ewingpainting.net said:


> comex owns, Color Wheel Paint, General Paint, Frazee Paint, Parker Paint and Kwal Paint. they have been working on products that all stores will carry, so no matter what store you go in they will have the same products, labels etc.


 
Comex sucks. They bought Color wheel and are slowly dismanteling it. It was the best regional paint company in florida. Started by a family in Orlando and built to a statewide brand. Mainly for contractors. They did not look for retail customers till Comex came along with a better idea. Then they bought them and the market tanked 6 months later. And 5 years later guys that worked for them for 10 and 20 years have all quit or been fired. Almost all the old faces are gone now. I still like Color Wheel paint. But they slowly are phasing it out it seems.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

researchhound said:


> Never even heard of them out here - at least in the mid valley.


Kwal.. _Made in the West for Western weather_

I don't think anyone makes makes paint for Northwestern weather.

Kinda sad really


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## robladd (Nov 22, 2010)

Steve Richards said:


> Kwal.. Made in the West for Western weather
> 
> I don't think anyone makes makes paint for Northwestern weather.
> 
> Kinda sad really


Olympic?


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## ewingpainting.net (Jun 2, 2008)

Steve Richards said:


> Kwal.. _Made in the West for Western weather_
> 
> I don't think anyone makes makes paint for Northwestern weather.
> 
> Kinda sad really


try made in Mexico  comex ships the tint in from Mexico. they are Mexico owned and operated.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

YEAH! Kelly Moore and Miller where the other 2 companies we do not have local, but have heard were in decline.

This is NOT good.. I don't see this as much as capitalism as I see large coorporations buying/eating smaller companies.

Back.. WAAAAAAy back in the day monopolies were illegal. No one can say that Verizon, Sprint, Tmobile.. ?? Cricket? being the ONLY cell companies out there.. that it is any better than it was 14 yrs ago when I got my first cell.


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## caulktheline (Feb 10, 2011)

nEighter said:


> YEAH! Kelly Moore and Miller where the other 2 companies we do not have local, but have heard were in decline.
> 
> This is NOT good.. I don't see this as much as capitalism as I see large coorporations buying/eating smaller companies.
> 
> Back.. WAAAAAAy back in the day monopolies were illegal. No one can say that Verizon, Sprint, Tmobile.. ?? Cricket? being the ONLY cell companies out there.. that it is any better than it was 14 yrs ago when I got my first cell.


way back there used to be only one phone company


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

until capitalism moved in and other companies started out to be that companies' rival 

In the end the Ma' Bell monopoly was disbanded.. but has come back together in a weird way.. only now it is a cable company (hell I THINK!) that is owning the airwaves/transmission lines now.. and in most areas, like my own, they have a monopoly on the area also.. we can have Comcast.. but cannot get Time Warner here. Telephones are pretty much old technology at this point, we are using the backbone to transfer internet and cell coverage now.. so transmission of the signal has taken different forms, but it is all pretty much controlled by the same hands with different names now.


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## Cusingeorge (Jan 19, 2008)

Kwal was going to shut down the stores in KC and Omaha, so the former VP of Business Development partnered with a gentleman in KC and bought them all. They picked up Ben Moore because, like everyone else has eluded, Ben Moore is trying maintain it's presence in the market (and I don't think Zeke's was getting it done and the Ben Moore guy in Omaha folded).

Anyway, the new store name is PROfessional Paint and Coatings, Ben Moore is their leading line, but I am pretty sure they still have Kwal, and are carrying Glidden in Omaha too.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

I went and picked up a 5'er of HHW flat. The line was Coranado.

Yeah George is right. That is what I was told, it goes deeper than this, Kwal changed after they were bought out by Comex, Guess theyn Comex started to close different factories, and changed a bunchy of stuff around. Then didn't want to be in "smaller markets", but KC was a 10 million/yr? market, and Omaha I guess was something.. I can't remember..

But Comex decided they would go through and clear house. Started to fire their Sr. employees.. and out of all things, decides to hire people from Pizza Hut, and a few other CORPORATIONS.. as luck would have it.. people from Pizza Hut don't know how to run a company that doesn't deal in peoperoni and cheese.. 

So Comex wanted to do away with the market, so the owner of 3 of the stores that Kwal used to rent, and one of the high ups at Kwal.. went together and basically took the stores over, but were still receiving Kwal paint.. at that time.

Billing starts to get messed up, Comex trying to charge the fellas more than what they should have been.. and at the time they knew they needed to do soemthing.. so Ben Moore and Coronado were picked up.. and they are selling off the last of their kwal paint.

Was a long day, hope that made sense.

Going into the store today, Ben Moore sign up, and all the racks have Ben Moore signs.

I asked him if they were going to try to find a line like Kwal.. cheap and decent. He said the coronado and I guess some line of ben's will fill that gap.

For shoots and grins I go to Lowes to check out their Valspar ceiling white. $108.00/5 gal. I go back to the once Kwal store.. $59/5 gal for coronado flat HHW.


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## Cusingeorge (Jan 19, 2008)

Yeah, that sounds about right. I think the nearest dealer for Kwal now is in Joplin (Spectrum Paint). Kwal makes a great line, I've used their 2110 Accu-Pro for 5-6 years and have had some pretty nice results and I'm just a lacquer junkie!


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## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

Cusingeorge said:


> Kwal was going to shut down the stores in KC and Omaha


How about Texas?


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## Cusingeorge (Jan 19, 2008)

Still in Texas, NM, CO and points west.


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

yeah, they are keeping the "big" markets 

But so be it. That Coronado line of ceiling paint is actually really good. Decent hide, dries real flat and white


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## FLPaintman (Mar 5, 2013)

the paintman said:


> Comex sucks. They bought Color wheel and are slowly dismanteling it. It was the best regional paint company in florida. Started by a family in Orlando and built to a statewide brand. Mainly for contractors. They did not look for retail customers till Comex came along with a better idea. Then they bought them and the market tanked 6 months later. And 5 years later guys that worked for them for 10 and 20 years have all quit or been fired. Almost all the old faces are gone now. I still like Color Wheel paint. But they slowly are phasing it out it seems.


You're right. Comex has completely destroyed that once great company. I'm personal friends with a lot of the guys that used to run that company and the stories they tell me make me sick. It's a shame.


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## plainpainter (Nov 6, 2007)

Why not just use the Benjamin Moore paint?


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## tgeologist (Mar 8, 2013)

*valspar textured paint*

painted a room with valspar tuscan accents TUS 27 blue mosaic and it came out great except that I am one brushfull short and Lowes does not sell it anymore. Impossible to match because it is a textured paint. does anyone have a smidge left over? Please let me know. Thanks.


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## Northwest_painter (Jan 27, 2012)

Well this is a old post Kwal is owned by SWP Now.


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