Looking for Benjamin Moore paint? Marketplace Paints has you covered.
The new business, which opened in mid-July, features a full palette of colors of the popular paint brand in addition to stains and painting supplies, including brushes and rollers.
The store offers personal service to everyone from professional contractors to weekend do-it-yourselfers wanting to spruce up a bedroom or kitchen.
The store also fills a gap left when Park Avenue Paints, the former Benjamin Moore dealer in Aiken, closed a few years ago.
"We have a full supply of all of the Benjamin Moore products; so we're a signature store, which is a little different than most," said Tom Uskup, who co-owns the store with his wife, Anne. "It's a nice endorsement from the company. It means that we're carrying their products more exclusively than alternative products.
"We're excited to offer the Benjamin Moore product back here in town so that the builders, designers and contractors don't have to go to Augusta, where the closest store was."
Benjamin Moore offers quality paint at reasonable prices with an emphasis on the environment, Uskup said.
The brand's Natura paint, an award-winning green product, is allergy and asthma friendly, he said.
Also, because the more than 100-year-old company controls its ingredients and mixing process, Benjamin Moore paint colors are consistent, he said.
"If someone had a certain color in their house in Boston and they came down here to retire and they wanted that same color, well, they can be assured that they'll get the very same formula; and that's not always the case from company to company," said Uskup, who has been an entrepreneur throughout his career.
With a background in interior design, Anne, an Aiken native, said she likes not only the depth of Benjamin Moore's color palette but also its business model: Each store is independently owned, not a franchise.
"We had to apply to Benjamin Moore to open the store," Anne said. "It's more personal. We're a small business that is a dealer for Benjamin Moore products."
As a small business, Marketplace Paints offers personal, individualized service.
"We sell paint, but what we want to be is a service company," said Bill Bassham, a former chairman of the board of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, an active civic leader and one of the store's team members. "When people come in and they've got problems, we can solve them.
"Benjamin Moore has a complete line of paints. We have the premier paints, green paints, contractor-grade paints, so we can help anybody from the contractor to the guy who's doing the weekend project. We have something for anybody's project."
Marketplace Paints, located at 116C Pendleton St. S.W. in downtown Aiken, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, call 803-226-0591 or email info@marketplace paints.com.
A native of Aiken, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter.
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