Rufe’s Paint Store has been a fixture of the Town Plaza Shopping Center in the mountain town of Durango, Colorado, since 1960. The store not only serves the town of Durango, but the entire county of La Plata into southwestern Colorado, connecting the community with key paint products to beautify their homes and offices.
Bob Romero, who co-owns the store with his brother, Mike, estimates that their customer base is about 60 percent DIY customers.
“We are a true custom paint store,” Bob says. “We have product knowledge and take care of people. We have a following and have been here for a long time, so we must have done something right.”
On the following pages, learn more about how Rufe’s Paint Store devoted itself to Durango and the surrounding area to become a family-owned community staple.
The Start of a Beautiful Partnership
Rufe’s Paint Store is a small, family-owned business with just three employees: Bob, Mike and Mike’s son Keith. The business was founded by Bob and Mike’s father—the store’s namesake—Rufe Romero.
Bob says he has been in the paint business since he was a child, although his official introduction to retail took place in 1979.
“My dad would have me come and work here when I wasn’t playing ball. I was an athlete and played every sport trying to keep active in school so I wouldn’t have to come in and work,” he says with a laugh. “I worked a lot here. When I came back from college, I decided to stay in the area and raise my kids here because it’s a good place to raise a family.”
Rufe’s Paint Store has a history with Diamond Vogel paint that goes back to the founding of the store more than 60 years ago.
“My dad went to Fort Lewis College here in Durango in 1951 on a football scholarship, and my grandfather, Rufe Sr., was a foreman at Federal Lumber Co., which was the biggest lumber company in southwestern Colorado,” Bob says.
He says that after his father graduated from college, he got his start in the paint business selling paint for Federal Lumber.
“After a couple of years, he wanted to go out on his own, and Henry McClister of McClister Paint Co. heard about my dad and became interested in helping him get in business,” he says. “My dad sold McClister paint, which became Komac Paint, which was later bought by Diamond Vogel. McClister took a liking to my father, and I thank him to this day.”
Diamond Vogel’s Colorado and New Mexico distribution operations and store locations were acquired by Guiry’s Inc., a paint, home decor and art supplies retailer headquartered in Denver, in December 2020. The partnership is still new, and Bob says he is eager to see what opportunities may become available now that they fall under the Guiry’s umbrella. And he’s happy to be an independent dealer for another family-owned and operated company.
Getting the Word Out
Rufe’s Paint Store is located in the same shopping center as a hardware store that also sells paint. While some retailers might worry about how the proximity to a competitor affects their business, Bob doesn’t see it that way. He says his father taught him not to worry about the competition, but to “let them worry about you.”
“We work together. They recommend us, and we recommend them when the time comes,” he says. “It’s a good competition. Of course, it takes a while to establish yourself in the market and get to that point.”
The Romero family has found nontraditional ways of getting the word out for Rufe’s Paint Store. Bob remembers years ago, his father took out ads in the local paper promoting the store alongside the image of a dog barking, “Rufe’s, Rufe’s, Rufe’s!”
“It was very catchy,” he says. “We enjoy being different in a good way and being characters. It’s something people don’t forget.”
Bob also continues his father’s practice of giving balloons to children when they come in the store with their parents. He explains that many years later, some of those children are now parents who bring their own families into the store.
“We have grown a customer base from that,” he says. “It’s one way we have retained the loyalty of our customers—besides telling stories and clean jokes. I always say, ‘We don’t have helium, but I’m full of hot air!’”
Becoming Local Experts
Bob and his family pride themselves on their product knowledge and insight into the paint industry. He says that customer-focused combination isn’t something you see too much of at big boxes, which are often made up of “order-takers” and experience high turnover.
That’s not the case for Rufe’s. With a small, knowledgeable staff, they go the extra mile to accommodate their customers.
“We do a lot of interior decorating with our customers,” Bob says. “We help them with colors and even match other people’s colors. We ask for their fittings and accessories and have them bring in the fabrics they have in their surroundings.”
He takes into account the lighting of the room and adjusts for indirect, natural and artificial lighting. He also offers advice specific to the area.
“Everywhere in the country is different, and paint gets treated differently,” Bob says. “Higher altitude and lower altitude, they all do different things to paint. This is a high-altitude area with extreme UV that can break down products, so we help customers understand that.”
He also cautions his customers against following advice from the internet or popular home decorating shows.
“We have people who come here who watch those programs and those marketing tools make it sound easy to do these techniques—but they really aren’t, so we help them find solutions,” he says.
Passing the Torch
Bob believes his family—and the store—are stronger because they are a family business.
“We can beat each other up during the day, but we keep coming back for more the next day because we are family,” he says. “It was important to me and my brother to carry over what my dad built. We’re proud to have been here this long.”
His sons chose to pursue other career paths outside the store—something Bob respects—but he’s happy his nephew has taken an interest in the business and that he has a talent and eye for color.
“He is very good at what he does,” Bob says. “Many men are color blind, but if you’re not and you can match colors, that’s a huge advantage if you care to learn that part of the trade. It’s an art form. Some people have a knack for that, and it’s a special gift.”
This gift is something Bob has seen before.
“It’s something my father had as well,” he says. “I’m not as good as my nephew is, to be honest. But I’m grateful for that. We offset each other in different ways. It helps make us who we are in the store.”
