What Was His Name?

In a recent blog I lamented weeks of anxiety, time spent waiting to learn the fate of a proposed scope of work.  One which took several hours to write but several months to create, in the end more manifesto than proposal.  Envisioning bold actions and the likely outcomes from them, including an economic windfall and the preservation of human life.  Blurring the line between economics and philanthropy, so that one effort accomplishes both goals.   

An effort which has yet to begin in earnest so until it does I’ll be checking in with friends, clients and others in my network, disclosing my new association to those I feel should know. Conversations which last week reconnected me with some of my oldest and most trusted sources, so I made sure to leave time for updates on the current events in paint.  Including the troubles at hardware and paint distributor Lancaster, now suffering private equity ownership for the second time this decade.

It will be its last.

Funded by Center Rock Capital Partners, the Merit Distribution Group acquired Lancaster in April 2019, likely unaware of the distributor’s waning relevance in the independent channel, where distribution is dominated nationally by AllPro, Ace, Emory Jensen, Do it Best and Orgill.  Elbowing Lancaster even further to the fringes is a bloc of regional independent distributors that dot the continent, like Pacoa in New York and New England, House-Hasson in the mid-Atlantic and south and Paint Sundry Solutions in the Pacific Northwest.  Entrenched in those markets through near century-long commitments, which Lancaster has no deals to overcome. 

In June of 2025, Lancaster was acquired by Czech Asset Management (CAM), whose first act as owner was to file a motion to have the firm removed from a lawsuit between the outgoing CEO and Merit Distribution.  An act which likely saved CAM a few million dollars—money the private equity firm has not invested in Lancaster, which has no more than an also-ran product assortment customers could easily replace.  One which has gotten even smaller of late, after several brands recently placed the distributor on credit hold.     

Unknown is Czech’s intention for Lancaster, which as an independent distributor maintained a national profile and competed significantly with regionals in their markets.  Decades past that era, it’s unlikely Lancaster would garner much attention from buyers, making bankruptcy more likely, which I suspect has been Czech’s plan all along. 

Dan Who?

I buy myself gifts after receiving ink on new engagements; a fine pen perhaps for something shorter with longer gigs bringing their just rewards.  Hired in 2019 by Benjamin Moore CEO Dan Calkins, I re-fitted my home office with new lighting, audio, displays and furniture.  An upgrade worthy of the engagement I expected would be the most significant of my career, though that’s not the way the story ended.