GALION, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW) – A longtime business in town that started out selling just paint and wallpaper is celebrating the retirement of its founder – and ushering in a new era.
My Floors Kitchen & Bath Remodeling, formerly Prints & Paints, is saying farewell to Gary Frankhouse, Sr., after nearly 50 years at the helm. The business is being passed on to two employees who played football in the parking lot as youngsters – his sons, Gary Frankhouse, Jr. and Steve Frankhouse.
Gary Frankhouse, Sr., 75, will be recognized during a retirement open house on Thursday, March 21, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the 888 Bucyrus Road business. At the same time, My Floors Kitchen & Bath Remodeling will be celebrating the grand opening of its newly remodeled showroom.
“I’m very pleased how it’s turned out,” said Gary Frankhouse, Sr., who opened the retail store with his wife, Sandy, back in 1977. “Everybody back then said you’re not going to make it. I was pretty stubborn too, but if you think you’re not going to make it, you probably shouldn’t do it.”
The business, which started in an abandoned laundromat on the west side of town, has undergone three major expansions over the years, as well as the addition of several product lines. It is now the premier flooring, kitchen, and bath provider in Central Ohio, boasting a 14,000-square-foot facility and annual sales topping $5 million.
But there’s a story before the story.
Gary Frankhouse, Sr.’s experience in decorating and floor and wall covering goes back to his years growing up in Monroe, Michigan, where his parents owned Harvey’s Paint & Wallpaper store. He also installed carpeting after returning from service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
In 1969, he married Sandy Lent, whose parents owned a paint and wallpaper business outside Newark, Ohio, called the Red Barn. The couple moved there in 1972 so he could help run it, but after a few years, he craved more. “I just kept telling Sandy that I wanted my own store. I just wanted to do it ourselves.”
One day, Frankhouse recalled, he came home after being gone for a week covering his parents’ store in Michigan and was shocked to see a “sold” sign in the front yard. “And I said to Sandy, ‘You sold the house?’ and she said, ‘Well, you wanted to start your own business, so now I guess we have to go do it.’”
The couple settled on Galion, a thriving manufacturing community midway between Monroe and Newark, and started stocking the store with thousands of wallpaper patterns. They also were lucky to become an authorized dealer for Graham Paint & Varnish, a Chicago-based paint distributor. Prints & Paints was born.
Sandy’s father made the drive to Galion to lend his expertise and help the couple set up shop. But a few days into the project, he died unexpectedly. “I had to figure out everything by myself really, so I started asking questions,” Frankhouse recalled. “It was a lot of competition back then. It was hard at first. We didn’t know a person in this town.”
But business slowly took off. Two years later, Prints & Paints underwent its first expansion—a 1,200-square-foot addition to the showroom and construction of a warehouse. The 1980s saw the introduction of new product lines, including window treatments and wood-burning ovens, and soon after, carpeting, which revolutionized the business, he said.
With carpeting came the demand for more space to house the large rolls, so the business expanded again in 1992 with another 1,800 square feet of warehouse space. Other types of flooring were also brought onto the sales floor: vinyl, laminates, ceramic tile, and hardwood flooring.
In 1995, Gary Frankhouse, Jr. joined the business after graduating from Miami University and earning his CPA. His brother soon followed after receiving a marketing degree from The Ohio State University. In 1997, the store’s name was changed to Prints & Paints Floor Covering Co. to reflect the shift toward the flooring component of the operation.
“We thought, well, Dad started something good, so let’s grow something that he started,” said Vice President and Treasurer Gary Frankhouse, Jr. “The reason we’re here today is because he instilled in us service to others. It all goes back to his military service foundation and the entrepreneurial spirit in the family tree.”
The business expanded again in 1998 after purchasing an adjacent property, a former hair salon. Kitchen cabinets, custom showers, and other home remodeling products and services were also introduced. In 2008, however, the decision was finally made to eliminate the two items the business was named after, Frankhouse said, and ‘My Floors’ became a registered trade name.
Today, My Floors Kitchen & Bath Remodeling is continuing a legacy founded on two guiding principles: customer service and innovation. But the “story before the story” will always be remembered—and so will its founder.
“It’s still our family business,” said Steve Frankhouse, President and Secretary. “My dad created the legacy and it’s our job to carry it on, build it, and grow it. We’re just finishing the work he started.”