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Kickin' Kolor in Davenport, IA, is the brainchild of Jim and Chris Hetzler, a store that was designed to help artists, body shops, painters, hot rodders, car rebuilders and hobbyists attain paint supplies and gain access to expert technical support and training.
With more than 45 years of knowledge and experience, the Hetzlers have become well-known for being a one-stop solution where customers can create amazing finishes and graphics on vehicles all over the country and learn skills such as pinstriping and airbrushing in a hands-on classroom environment.
Jim is always looking for unique paint colors, so when House of Kolor released its Shimrin2 paint line, he took to it almost immediately, he said.
"I began being associated with House of Kolor about a decade ago when I won my first of four Prestigious Painter Awards from them back in 2007 for a 1939 Buick that was selected for their annual car calendar," he said. "It's a neat deal, especially because you're being honored along with some of the leading painters in the industry."
That first award led to bigger and better things for the Hetzlers.
"So, we started up a sample service at that time, spraying out samples for our customers," Jim said. "Once they decided on a sample color, we could mix their paint by using the unique color formula right here at our store and ship it directly to them. House of Kolor set us up with a program that worked out really well for us and our customer liked it immediately. As we were rolling along, we thought, ‘Why sell [not] only House of Kolor paint but other products too, such as sandpaper and fillers and all of the other items that go along with the paint?’ So, we began to diversify our inventory and became a one-stop solution."
The store's inventory began to grow after that and things started rolling along at an accelerated rate shortly thereafter.
"We got together with reps from Sherwin-Williams in our area that owns House of Kolor and decided to partner up with Martin Senour, a Sherwin-Williams product,” he said. “Martin Senour was being sold through NAPA stores and put together a full line of paint, body and equipment (PBE) items for the collision repair industry, home do-it-yourselfers and custom painters. We liked the idea of selling their products."