After five decades of operation in the local market, paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams West Indies Limited is looking to further expand, with plans well advanced to add its 24th store some time later this year.

During a factory tour and 50th anniversary logo unveiling at its White Marl plant in St Catherine on Wednesday, District Manager Kenneth Richardson, though mum on the details of the expansion, touted it as a multimillion-dollar project that will further help the 50-year-old establishment to grow in a market occupied by other players, such as Berger, BH, and Edgechem.

“The new store will be announced soon, it is a DIY [do-it-yourself] store for our customers with capital investment involving multiple millions and of which we are hoping to have open by early last quarter of this year,” he said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

The store will also see the company increasing its staff count which now stands at approximately 280.

“We just completed the hiring of about eight new employees and we expect to continue on that trajectory,” Richardson further told the Caribbean Business Report.

Currently spread across some 23 stores and two main distribution outlets, paint and other associated materials from the company are also sold through a network of over 500 dealers islandwide.

Operating as a wholly-owned local subsidiary of its parent Sherwin-Williams Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, in the US, the company has its primary business in the manufacture and supply of paints and coatings; automotive, decorative, industrial, and furniture finishes; among other associated products, such as brushes, rollers, and additional painting supplies.

The decorative segment, which Richardson said accounts for a significant portion of the business, services hundreds of clients in the residential and commercial spaces.

Pushing products such as its snap-dry and self-cleaning paints, the company is banking on the use of product innovation and improved quality, which Richardson cites as primary features of some of its more recent products, that will further help the business to tap new clients, particularly in the hotel and hospitality industry. The use of technology, which he said was also instrumental in the growth process, has been helping factory technicians to scan formulas for quick mixing and production, and at store level, helping customers and retailers to buy and dispense products much easier and more effectively.

The company, which he also said has been witnessing double-digit growth over the last five years despite tough economic conditions, is anticipated to only get better as the global pressures ease and its growth plan becomes fully activated.

“Because we are very prudent business people we will ensure that we take the right steps to ensure that our business continues to consistently grow,” Richardson stated.

In the company’s global 2022 annual report, its directors noted that consolidated net sales increased by more than US$2 billion or 11 per cent above the prior year to total US$22.1 billion in 2022. This, it said, also represented the 12th consecutive year of sales increase for the paint company.

“Over the past year we opened 72 new paint stores [worldwide], hired 1,400 management trainees, introduced multiple new products, expanded production capacity, enhanced procurement and logistics processes, reduced stock keeping units (SKUs) and formulations, continued on our digital and sustainability journeys, and acquired businesses that fit our strategy. We remain deeply committed to widening the gap between Sherwin-Williams and our competitors through differentiation and uniqueness,” the report stated, while crediting its over 64,000 staff spread globally.

Richardson, in outlining some details on the entity’s phased plan for growth, said that while there are intentions to expand beyond local borders, the current focus is to first dominate the Jamaican market.

“Right now we are approaching the business in a very meticulous and methodical way. We know that there is potential in Jamaica but also in the Caricom region. We do some exporting right now to Barbados, but even as we look at the potential outside Jamaica, what we are trying to do first is to continue to grow locally and then expand further out,” he stated.

Through the Sherwin-Williams Training Centre the company already offers training support to painting professionals in outside territories, such as Barbados, Trinidad, and St Lucia, through programmes done in collaboration with the HEART/NSTA Trust.

Looking towards the future and possibly the next 50 years, the district manager said that the company’s outlook remains largely optimistic.

“Our outlook for growth is very positive, we continue to assess the Jamaican marketplace, and despite the global challenges, our findings show that there is good scope for growth. A key part of our strategy is providing the market with products and services that cannot be matched by our competitors,” he concluded.