March 1st, 2010
Posted by: Tamela Adamson-McMullen
Over time, monitors will begin appearing at roadways all across the United States, but breathe easy: They won’t be gauging how fast you’re driving.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is issuing new national air-quality standards for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and establishing new monitoring requirements in congested areas. NO2 is formed from vehicle, power plant and other industrial emissions and contributes to the formation of fine-particle pollution and smog.
EPA has set the standards at a level of 100 parts per billion (ppb) in one hour’s time. New monitors are due to start operating by Jan. 1, 2013. At the same time, EPA is retaining existing requirements that set the annual NO2 average at 53 ppb.
The new standards—the first in 35 years—are expected to protect millions of Americans from peak short-term NO2 exposures. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Air Quality, EPA, Regulations
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February 17th, 2010
Posted by: Diane Capuano
Much discussion has been generated by the Feb. 1 launch of Benjamin Moore’s new e-commerce initiative, whereby the Montvale, N.J., company is selling several of its paint products online and delivering them direct to consumers from its website. In response to press inquiries (including that of PDRA’s Paint & Decorating Retailer magazine), Benjamin Moore’s has issued the following statement, which is attributed to Ed Klein, the company’s vice president of retail & market development:
“Benjamin Moore announced February 1st that it had entered the world of e-commerce, selling select patented waterborne Gennex paints online, a decision that caught some of our retailers by surprise. We underestimated the reaction from many of our retailers, since our entry into Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Benjamin Moore, e-commerce
Posted in News, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
February 11th, 2010
Deck beautification could be on the agenda of many homeowners in 2010. This deck features products from PPG Architectural Finishes.
Posted by: Diane Capuano
The Feb. 10 editions of “The Daily Show” and “The Late Show with David Letterman” both had bits making fun of the news media’s propensity to use hyperbole when describing a weather phenomenon. In this case, cable news organizations have settled on two terms “Snowmageddon” and “Snowpocalypse” to describe the 30-plus inches of snow that has brought the Northeast to a standstill in this second week of February. To be fair, if you’re trying to dig out of that much white stuff, probably the terms don’t seem much exaggerated at all.
As much of the nation focuses on shoveling and how to get from Point A to Point B under snow-packed conditions, the last thing on people’s minds is just how much damage that snow could be doing to their decks or other outdoor exterior surfaces. But those who make their living selling paints and coatings should be thinking about it. As February literally melts into March in just a couple weeks time, it can be very productive for paint retailers to get serious about promoting deck care products (cleaners, strippers and wood stains). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: deck care, exterior stains
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February 3rd, 2010
Aura is one of the products being offered online.
Posted by: Diane Capuano
Benjamin Moore is selling direct to consumers and delivering product to their homes via a new e-commerce addition to its website. Here is the company’s full press release announcing the move:
BENJAMIN MOORE LAUNCHES E-COMMERCE, SELLING ITS PAINTS & SUPPLIES ONLINE
Benjamin Moore, a company that’s been helping Americans beautify their homes with quality performance paints and coatings for more than 125 years, is now selling direct to consumers and delivering to their doorsteps via a new e-commerce addition to its Web site, benjaminmoore.com.
The Benjamin Moore “Shop Now” virtual store, accessible from the Web site’s navigation bar, features a range of the brand’s top-selling interior paints plus sundry painting accessories, including Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Benjamin Moore, e-commerce
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January 28th, 2010
To keep up with changing environmental demands, The Master Painters Institute is adding a new “X-Green” (Extreme Green) environmental performance standard to complement its MPI Green Performance™ paint standards GPS-1 and GPS-2.
MPI’s new X-Green Performance Standard will simplify the process of specifying environmentally-safe interior high quality architectural coatings by establishing new “green” editions of MPI’s existing paint categories. “X-Green is now the toughest standard in the world, but it’s also the most Read the rest of this entry »
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January 22nd, 2010
Posted by Diane Capuano
The post-consumer paint management law that recently went into effect in Oregon has become a model for legislation that could be enacted in the coming months. The legislation, signed by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski in July, requires paint manufacturers to safely manage leftover paint from consumer and contractor painting projects.
The Oregon law is the first of its kind in the United States. Other states are likely to adopt a similar law to management leftover paint in the first part of 2010, with California, Vermont and Connecticut being the most likely to do so. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: post-consumer paint management
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January 15th, 2010
Posted by: Diane Capuano
More and more paint retailers are discovering the advantages of online education via the PDRA Coatings Specialist Training Course. This course, introduced last spring by the Paint & Decorating Retailers Association, allows retailers and their salespeople to further their paint industry education while sitting in front of a computer.
Convenience is key with this course. The course is divided into 12 modules, allowing the student to stop and start the course in a way that suits his or her schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: PDRA Coatings Specialist
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January 8th, 2010
Posted by: Diane Capuano
Miller Paint, manufacturer and retailer of high-quality paint and coating products in the northwestern U.S., has entered into a definitive agreement with Akzo Nobel to acquire the business operations and related assets of two ICI Paint stores located in Portland and Salem, Ore. The transaction is scheduled to close Jan. 29, at which time Miller plans to operate the Portland store, located at 121 NE Weidler St., as a new Performance Coatings Center, and to consolidate the ICI Salem store into the existing Miller Paint store on 390 Lancaster Drive in Salem.
Additionally, Miller Paint and Akzo Nobel have established a new strategic alliance. Miller Paint has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute the full range Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: acquisition, AkzoNobel, ICI, Miller Paint
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January 6th, 2010
Posted by: Diane Capuano
The following is a press release provided to us by Lancaster regarding the pending acquisition of Five Star Products Inc.
The Merit Group, Inc., a Spartanburg, South Carolina-based corporation, has reached an agreement to purchase outstanding shares of Five Star Products, Inc., a distributor of paint supplies, hardware and related products headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The closing of this agreement is anticipated to occur in the first quarter of 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: acquisition, Five Star, Lancaster
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December 31st, 2009
Posted by: Diane Capuano
With 2010 on our doorstep, now is the time for New Year’s resolutions. You can hope that 2010 will be a better year economically than 2009 was. But you shouldn’t leave your fate entirely to economic circumstances that you cannot control. Take charge of your own business by making resolutions that will improve your business performance. Here are five suggestions.
1. Try something new.
You know the definition of insanity, don’t you? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2010 outlook
Posted in Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment »
