In April of 1955 Cam Pringle opened up Days Painting Supplies then located in the basement of a building on 101 street and 105 Avenue, on the north side of the old CNR Rail yard. We have moved a couple of times since then, most recently in 1988 to a location on 104 Avenue and 107 Street, which was our last home for the last 31 years.
When we opened in 1955 our goal was to have “everything for the Master Painter”. Although the paint products have evolved, and the tools of the trade have changed, we still pride ourselves with having the widest selection of products for not only the professional painter, but for our do it yourself customers as well.
The photo shows the wide array of paint applicators that were available at our original showroom. Notice that there were no rollers in those days, interior and exterior paint was applied to walls with wide paint brushes. The introduction of the roller in the late 1950’s revolutionized painting and made many homeowners into do it yourselfers.
Colour has also evolved since our early years. In 1955 Benjamin Moore had a series of standard colours, all ready mixed by the factory in all of our then available products. A wider range of colours was available but they were hand tinted by adding tubes of colourant to the paint, or intermixing two or more of the standard colours. Painters at the time often tinted paint on the job site, tweaking the colours by hand, a skill that has been lost by most modern painters. When Benjamin Moore introduced the first tint machine in 1959 the industry was transformed, going from hundreds of colours to over 2000, in the “Color as you like it” tint system. In 1985 Days Paint was the first company in Northern Alberta to invest in a colour matching computer system, that allowed us to do custom matches usually in minutes, but each match is still checked and adjusted by our staff’s skilled eyes, to ensure that the colours are exactly what you wanted. Now our colour displays have over 3000 colours available in any of our products, in any finish. With our custom colour matching computers and the Automatic tint machines we now use, the possibilities are virtually unlimited.
Our paint products have also evolved, in 1955 most of the paint we sold was oil based paint, with unhealthy smelly mineral spirits and oils, and in some of cases were coloured with pigments that contained lead, and lots of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds (the pollution part of paint). Water based paints were rare, available only in a dead flat finish, that would mark and mar very easily. Over the years water based paints have drastically changed, going from “latex” resins to “Acrylic” and became available in all the finishes from flat to high gloss. In 2008 Benjamin Moore introduced Aura and the Gennex tinting system. Aura was the first no VOC paint on the market even after tinting (most tints still contain a high level of VOC’s, our Gennex Tint is Zero VOC). Using this technology in other products, Aura, Regal Select, Ben and even our contractor line of paint Ultra Spec are now all ZERO VOC products, the most environmentally friendly paints we have ever sold.
Products and location are important aspects of any business, however it is the people that work in the business that make it successful, and keeps customers coming back. Current owner Bob Pringle takes great pride in in his dedicated sales staff, all of whom that have great product and colour knowledge and whom will take the time to assist customers with their painting, staining and decorating projects.
Good Bye Downtown - Hello Inglewood!
For over 65 years the downtown Edmonton location of Days Painting Supplies, has been serving customers from all areas of the city with relatively quick and convenient access to our central location. In recent years with the development of downtown Edmonton, our customers have expressed concern about how non traffic friendly downtown has become, with City Hall more concerned about arenas, tall buildings and bike lanes than parking, traffic delays and the locally owned downtown business’s located there. The last straw for our downtown location was served in September 2019 with notice from the City of Edmonton to vacate the property to make way for the Downtown to Lewis Estates LRT line. Although there were other locations in Downtown Edmonton for us to move to, we believe that the surface level LRT on the route that the City of Edmonton council has selected will forever ruin downtown Edmonton for traffic, as the other surface level LRT’s in Edmonton have clearly shown.
In the spring of 2020 we will be relocating to Inglewood, just northwest of the downtown area to a building at 12225-118 Avenue. Our new home features ample free parking, and easy access from 118 Avenue or 123 Street. Just minutes from downtown and easily accessed from the south via Groat Road, and from the North via the Yellowhead and 121 Street (formerly Bush Pilot Road).
Good bye downtown Edmonton, you were a great home to us for 65 years, and we look forward to continue providing our tradition of quality products and unsurpassed customer service, in the Inglewood neighborhood.
We Have Moved! Our Downtown location (10733-104 Ave) relocated to our new location 12225-118 Avenue, Effective March 16, 2020. Please look for us at our new location which features easy access and plenty of free parking.
