ALLPRO TALKS

With Patrick Smith, President, Regal Paint Centers

Patrick Smith may be color blind, but that hasn’t stopped him from helping expand his family paint empire. Ever since he was a freshman in high school, Smith has been subconsciously preparing for his role as president of Regal Paint Centers. In addition to his day job, Smith is chair of ALLPRO’s NextGen committee, and a busy dad of soon-to-be two! We sat down to discuss his history in the paint business, goals for the future of NextGen, and how he spends his time when he’s not opening new paint stores.

Allpro independent: what was your first job ?

Patrick Smith: My first job was working in our paint stores. I was working in our Gaithersburg store on Saturdays when I was a freshman in high school.

AI: What influenced you to work in the paint business? PS: I am the second generation. My dad and his business partner were painting contractors and bought a store in 1986. It used to be a company called Winslow’s, but the business was broken up and Benjamin Moore sold off a lot of the outlets to individual new store owners. We bought the location in Silver Spring - the store that my dad’s company had shopped at frequently. They felt like they had at least a proximity to the business and that it could be a decent opportunity for them. In about 1997, our neighbor down the road was looking to exit the business. After that, we started acquiring more stores. Instead of being a single paint store, it became a group of stores and we started to have some real opportunity for growth. AI: Have you always wanted to work in the paint business? PS: I always had a suspicion that I would end up back here. I knew I really didn’t want to work in a formal office setting. I enjoyed the paint store environment and customer interactions. So yeah, I think part of me always knew I’d likely end up back here.

AI: Regal Paint Centers are family owned and operated. Do you have advice when it comes to succession planning? PS: Succession planning can be tough. I’m still working through it myself. It can be a very tough conversation to have. It’s more than just selling a business, it’s a way of life. It’s almost like one of their kids - there can be a very emotional component to selling the business and fear that it won’t work out. Especially something that takes years and decades to cultivate.

AI: Tell us about your involvement in NextGen. PS: It really started out as an opportunity for me to have more direct time with like-minded business owners or team members in their

own businesses. We get time during the ALLPRO show to do a lot of casual networking, but sometimes you don’t have as many longer windows of time to get into issues or strategies or opportunities. We get an opportunity to sit down and talk about it at our committee meetings or just through email communications.

AI: How do ALLPRO and NextGen support each other? PS: Some of the things that the committee is tasked with doing is to prepare a strong network of people to transition into leadership roles within their own businesses, but also into committee heads or onto the board of directors for the ALLPRO group. The group is tasked with trying to get new and diverse personalities integrated into leadership positions as well. And provide any actionable guidance to ALLPRO that will be relevant as NextGen, with either education or tools that they may need to be able to ascend in their businesses. And then to have a very intentional effort to build an actual social network of the next generation people. One of our responsibilities now is to plan social functions to get people more quickly acclimated and network with like-minded dealers from across the group.

AI: How has involvement in ALLPRO benefited Regal Paint Centers? PS: I find that on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis, it can be very easy to get really siloed and stuck in your own business and really not know what other people are doing. And so, I find it immensely valuable. Being a member offers new opportunities to connect with other members across the country who are trying new things. We can talk about strategy and that can really help serve my own business. The networking and the learning opportunities in the group are immense. I also love the buying power of the ALLPRO group, but it’s still outpaced by the amount of knowledge and expertise and ideas that I glean from other members in the group. AI: What is your favorite ALLPRO product? PS: Quick 2 Coat Caulk.

AI: Any memorable anecdotes of past ALLPRO events that have been a highlight for you? PS: I’ve been to almost every show. I’ve only skipped one since 2009 and that was when my son was born. They’re great opportunities to network and learn.

AI: What do you like to do in your free time? PS: I don’t have a lot of free time right now. I’ve got a second child on the way. Between work and running around with family, it’s pretty busy.

AI: What is your favorite paint color? PS: I’m colorblind.

AI: How does being colorblind impact your job as a paint retailer? PS: When I was working the counter helping customers, I was very circumspect with the type of color advice I would give. I had a couple of canned responses, like darker colors really can become overwhelming over a larger space. I would really try to push the onus back on to the customer to make them feel like they needed to be driving the bus from a color choice perspective, but a lot of times it meant that I had to pass them on to my co-workers when I really got into a nuanced color discussion. Usually there’s plenty of other people to fill that void for me.