Bay Area paint giant Kelly-Moore shuts down, closes every store

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NEWS | BAY AREA & STATE

Bay Area paint giant Kelly-Moore shuts down, closes every store

By Katie Dowd
Jan 14, 2024



Facade of Kelly-Moore Paints location in Lafayette, California, February 2, 2023.
Smith Collection/Gado/Gado via Getty Images

After 78 years in business, Bay Area paint giant Kelly-Moore announced it is shutting down and closing every store nationwide. In a statement, the company said Chapter 11 bankruptcy was not a viable option, and that after fulfilling existing orders, Kelly-Moore will cease operations permanently.

"I'm extremely disappointed and saddened by this outcome, as the entire Kelly-Moore team made incredible efforts to continue innovating and serving the unique needs of professional painting contractors,” CEO Charles Gassenheimer wrote in a statement. … “... Sadly, no matter how great the Kelly-Moore team, products and reputation for service, we simply couldn’t overcome the massive legal and financial burdens that have been weighing on the Company for many years."

Kelly-Moore’s current ownership group, Pleuger Chemicals, bought the brand in 2022. But with the acquisition came heavy legal debts incurred over three decades of court battles over asbestos use in its cement and texture products. Although asbestos was phased out by 1981, the company claims, “ever-continuing case filings” have cost Kelly-Moore $600 million in settlements.

Although Pleuger Chemicals brought in Gassenheimer to save Kelly-Moore, ultimately it was decided nothing could slow down the barrage of lawsuits. “A recent study commissioned by the Company estimates future asbestos liabilities exceed $170 million,” Kelly-Moore said in a statement.

At its height, Kelly-Moore was one of America’s largest independent paint companies. The company was founded by William E. Moore and William Kelly, two former Glidden employees, in 1946. From San Carlos, the pair, along with Moore's wife Desiree Moore, built an empire among contractors and builders. "At night, we went out together, drove around and would actually collect the money from each of the contractors for the products delivered," Moore once recalled.

As the company wraps up operations, it plans to “fulfill previously placed customer orders to the extent possible from existing inventory” at the Union City distribution center. Seven hundred employees have already been laid off, and the company’s manufacturing plant in Hurst, Texas will close.

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[rsdsharp]

1. I can remember a couple of asbestos cases where they were one of the defendants,

but they sure weren’t major defendants in this area.