Dages Hikes Point Paint & Wallpaper in Louisville, Kentucky, is a classic family business. Founder Russell Dages Sr. started the company in 1930 during the Great Depression, initially selling paint out of the trunk of his car and later from a house in the historic Germantown neighborhood in Louisville.
In the 1950s, his son Russell Dages Jr. joined him in the business, and together they built the paint store and Cold War-era nuclear fallout shelter where the original store is currently located.
Anne Dages, the daughter of Russell Jr., now oversees Dages Hikes Point Paint & Wallpaper and serves as company president. She has grown the business to three locations, despite very targeted competition, including two paint stores located within eyesight of one of her family’s stores.
“They literally built right next door, but it hasn’t hurt business at all,” Anne says. “Had we not done our job well, we might have lost business. But we are known for our good color matches, customer service and knowledge, and we have the only paint stores in Louisville with designers on staff.”
The current Dages Hikes Point Paint operation consists of three paint stores that serve a customer base of both homeowners and professional contractors. Two of the retail locations also sell wallpaper, blinds and window treatments.
Life Changes
The company’s growth in recent years has taken routes the Dages didn’t expect, but owning a family business means that some life changes require operational changes. That reality has worked out for the good of Dages Hikes Point Paint.
In 2001, Anne had been working with her father, then-owner Russell Jr., for seven years when her life changed permanently. Russell Jr. was talking about retirement and Anne was overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company’s single store in Germantown. Anne’s husband David Nutt was taking care of their toddler son at home and running a part-time side business.
Then some news stopped Anne and her father in their tracks. Anne was pregnant with twins. Dages Paint Co. wasn’t capable of accommodating one owner’s retirement and another owner’s extended maternity leave all in one year. The staff was too small and no manager was waiting in the wings to take charge.
The family had to develop a new plan. Russell postponed his retirement. In addition, David joined the business for the first time. He learned as much as he could about Anne’s job so he could help her during her higher-risk pregnancy, cover for her maternity leave and allow her to ease back into her job after the arrival of the twins. They became a team like never before.
By the time their twin girls arrived, David had fallen in love with the Dages family paint company and was committed to helping Anne grow it.
“He has an artistic background and he’s very much a people person,” Anne says. “It was a perfect fit.”
Instead of returning to their prior roles when Anne finished her maternity leave, she and David shared two full-time jobs: managing the paint store and staying home with their three small children. They split the roles between the two of them until all three of their kids were going to school. Then they both focused their attention on the business full time.
Growing By 2
Anne and David already had growth plans in the works for Dages Paint Co. in 2016 when Anne got a call from Tony Forns, another independent paint retailer in Louisville.
“We were competitors, but we never treated each other like competitors,” Anne says. “He always teased me and said, ‘Are you going to buy this business when I retire?’”
Tony was calling to let Anne know he was ready to retire and wanted her to buy his two stores. The stores had been in business for nearly 50 years and outlived several other paint stores and all other wallpaper retail outlets in the Louisville area.
Anne and David moved forward with remodeling their first store as planned, but also accepted the opportunity to grow even more. They decided David would stay at the Germantown store to manage the day-to-day operations and maintain the relationships they had built with customers.
Anne worked on the acquisition of the Hikes Point Paint & Wallpaper stores and collaborated closely with Tony on the transition in ownership. To retain both companies’ respected local brands, they renamed the stores Dages Hikes Point Paint & Wallpaper.
Tony stayed with the business for one year to help with the transition. The stability he provided helped Anne keep the staff intact, avoiding the loss of key employees at the Hikes Point stores for the first four years.
“He was very well known and established locally,” Anne says. “I couldn’t have bought from a better person. The transition really couldn’t have gone smoother.”
No Doubts
Anne’s goals for the company include continuing to grow sales and buying the real estate that houses the two Hikes Point Paint stores.
Owning the first store’s property has provided stability and an opportunity to build equity that have helped the Dages over the years, since landlords and rents have not impacted their ability to keep their store open.
“There have been times that things got tight and not having to pay rent was instrumental,” Anne says.
She and David have brought their children to the store all of their lives, so their kids have grown up going to the family’s first store and have worked for the business at times. They know the business well and have shown interest in it, but all three are in college and have time to explore other interests. Who eventually will take over the family business is yet to be seen.
“I haven’t wanted to push it. I want them to do their own thing,” Anne says. “I did my own thing after college, and I came back to the business with new knowledge and never wondered if I should have tried something different. I didn’t have doubts about what I wanted to do.”
