NAPCO Celebrates 40 Years!

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of NAPCO’s debut in the refinishing industry, and we’re happy to report that after four decades things are looking brighter than ever! We’ve certainly changed quite a bit over the years, but our dedication to our professional refinishers remains the same. In fact, it is this dedication that has driven us to make many impactful changes to our business over the years.

Compared to where we are now, you might not even have recognized NAPCO when it was founded by Frank Miori in 1979. Frank himself was a bathtub refinisher and franchise owner for a local refinishing business, and though he enjoyed the work, he understood that becoming a franchisee came with unique challenges that many refinishers weren’t prepared to handle.

This is where the concept for NAPCO was born, and soon Frank launched the first-ever bathtub refinishing supplier specifically for small businesses. Frank’s goal was to make bathtub refinishing products accessible to any professional refinisher.

The business soon began to thrive, with hundreds of customers making use of NAPCO’s unique set of supplies. One such customer was Steve Coven, a professional refinisher and industry innovator. Steve also had a vision for NAPCO, and in 1993 he purchased the company from Frank.

Over the past 26 years, Steve has revolutionized NAPCO’s product development and customer service capabilities and currently serves as NAPCO’s CEO. One of Steve’s most notable accomplishments was introducing the company’s professional refinishing training program in 2005. Since then, training has been a cornerstone of the NAPCO business; helping men and women from all over the country get professional training in bathroom and kitchen refinishing and refinishing techniques.

Today we continue to be a leader in the refinishing industry, adding a full-time Research and Development Specialist and Technical Manager to the staff in 2016. NAPCO’s mission is to make refinishing a safer and more efficient process, and our research and development team has come out with numerous low-VOC and waterborne products. Some of these products have even been granted the “Green Wise” stamp of approval from the Coatings Research Group. In addition, NAPCO products provide some of the most extensive color customization options available in the industry, giving customers the flexibility to offer a greater range of services to their clients.

In 2018, NAPCO made waves by branching out from bathroom refinishing into kitchen refinishing with the addition of refinishing training and supplies for kitchen cabinets and countertops. Our refinishing training program is now one of the best in the country and teaches professional refinishers safe and effective ways to apply bathtub, tile, kitchen countertop, and cabinet refinishing products. To date, NAPCO has successfully trained over 1,000 professional refinishers including trainees from the UK and Canada who have flown in just to take our training class.

The future is bright here at NAPCO, and you’ll want to stay tuned to see what new things we’ll have for you in the future. Having just won the “Chicago’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” program for the third year in a row, we’re excited for the continued success of NAPCO. We hope you’ve enjoyed your journey in the refinishing business as much as we have, and we’re looking forward to the next 40 years!