For 25 years, the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) has highlighted the achievements of outstanding independent home improvement retailers age 35 years and younger through its Young Retailer of the Year program.
Young Retailer of the Year honorees stand out as leaders in their businesses and in the communities they serve and are selected from three categories: stores with less than $2 million in sales, stores with more than $2 million in sales and operations with multiple stores. This year’s honorees have worked to improve their businesses, invest in their career development through industry education and better their communities.
This year marks the first time NHPA has included paint and decorating retailers in the award program after the association expanded its membership to include paint and decorating retailers last year. On the following pages, learn more about Jay Donnelly and his path to becoming a 2021 Young Retailer of the Year honoree.
Learning the Ins and Outs
Jay Donnelly began working with his father at Flanagan Paint & Supply, in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis, after graduating from Southeast Missouri State University in 2010 with a degree in construction management.
Donnelly’s father, Jim, had purchased Flanagan Paint in 2007 and asked him to join the company after Jim’s business partner died. Jim’s experience was in outside sales, whereas his former business partner had managed the in-store retail and contractor side of the business. Donnelly learned the ins and outs of running a paint store while on the job, and by 2012, he was promoted to vice president of Flanagan Paint. The title made it official, but he had been overseeing operations management, purchasing, hiring, social media and more from the time he started working at the store.
By 2013, the father-son duo had grown the business 25 percent year over year. But Donnelly felt unfulfilled and was ready for a new challenge. He and his father decided to open another store location. They settled on a retail space in the greater St. Louis area, in Ellisville, Missouri, and purchased the business in 2014.
In 2017, they sold the original Soulard building and moved everything to the Ellisville location. Then in 2018, they opened a new store in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and in November 2020, they acquired a third location in Webster Groves, Missouri.
Making Friends Is Their Business
Donnelly brings his two daughters, ages 3 and 5, with him to the stores every day. He says he, his wife and his daughters view the stores’ employees as family—and he spends most of his time investing in his team and the company culture they’ve created together.
The company motto is “Making friends is our business.”
“When you start making friends with customers, the competition goes away,” Donnelly says.
Giving Back to the Community
Flanagan Paint is a regular supporter of local charitable organizations. Donnelly also takes his role as an independent paint retailer seriously and seeks ways to empower his colleagues.
He previously served on the board of directors of the Paint and Decorating Retailers Association (PDRA), which closed operations in 2020. Donnelly is now part of an advisory group of paint retailers that is helping NHPA tailor its programs and services to address the needs of independent paint retailers.
He also participated in the Small Business Administration’s Emerging Leaders program, a six-month, MBA-style course. Donnelly says the program helped him define the direction he wanted to take the company. He now helps promote the program to other small business executives.
Donnelly has plans to open more stores, further expanding Flanagan Paint & Supply’s footprint in the St. Louis area. His goal is to not only expand his business to more locations, but strengthen the team supporting those brick-and-mortar destinations.
“People ask me all the time, ‘How many stores do you want?’” Donnelly says. “We’ll see—it depends on the team I have in place.”
