Franklin & Lennon Paint Company

I highly recommend this store. I’ve only heard good things and I know many people who come here. Far superior then Home Depot.
This is the go-​to for Columbia Architecture students and its fabrication shop manager. I was recommended to come here six months ago and I’ve been going out of my way to shop here since. They’re really proactive to help you out. They know what they’re doing and are really patient with explaining procedures and tools — in my case, they’ve helped me with wood stains/​protection, wall paints, color stains, wood filling. They’re also really honest with the options and prices — unlike other places that would just push for you to get the priciest products.
It’s a family business that’s been around for decades. The vibe is very friendly and there are many returning customers — professionals and amateurs.

So rude. So unnecessary. Came in to buy some paint. The gentleman serving me behaved like a hormonal teenager — eye rolling, sighing longsufferingly, muttering sotto voce. I come from the UK originally and we have really different terminology for paint. For instance, what I’ve since discovered is called enamel here, I know as oil-​based gloss paint. What is known as acrylic paint here, I know as emulsion paint. I could go on, but you get the picture. I explained my ignorance to the assistant helping me, described what I wanted in simple terms — paint for woodwork — and asked for his help. He spoke to me as if I were a) an imbecile and b) inconveniencing him inordinately. While this bizarre scenario was unfolding, two other men stood chatting at the register right next to us, apparently perfectly happy with the behavior of their colleague. While Mr Charisma went off to mix the paint, I paid up and was treated to a bizarrely inane bit of chit-​chat about the local restaurant scene, by one of the men at the register. If the new Seraphina’s on Amsterdam Avenue is your passion, then go in and discuss it with this guy — real conversational nirvana. Especially juxtaposed with his colleague’s eye-​watering obnoxiousness. Anyway, I shan’t be back, Mushtari’s may be slightly further away from my apartment, but they’ re polite and businesslike, which is all I really require from my paint merchant.

I’ll go ahead and disagree with all the other reviews. This is a great paint store. They are pros who not only know everything there is to know about paint, they are also cheaper than any other paint store in town. They sell to pros, and don’t carry low-​quality merchandise. I won’t buy paint anyplace else.
If you’re looking for someone to hold your hand and help with your decorating, go to Janovic (BTW, Home Depot is a joke when it comes to paint). But if you want high quality paint at a great price along with professional expertise, come here.

Well, they did refund my money after I showed what was inside the can. One minute I was standing at the counter, explaining my complaint to a grey-​haired man, when suddenly these three strapping young dudes surrounded me, all apologetic and asking how my bathroom looked post-​paint job. Well done, Franklin and Lennon, well done.

I’ve heard this is a decent store if you just want supplies. The staff is friendly. If, however, you try to buy a mixed paint color from them, you may become, like me and my coworkers, convinced that the long years of exposure to paint fumes have rendered these guys incapable of even the most basic comprehension.
I would recite the series of communications I had with them in trying to get an order of custom color paint for a floor at work but rants are unattractive. Plus you might think I had actually stolen it from an old comedy routine. Suffice it to say I was on the verge of taking out my frustration in physical violence not just once but multiple times. This place truly embodies the argument for why some mom-​and-​pop stores _​should_​go out of business when a store like, say, Home Depot, comes to town.
I hope someone will write another review saying they received professional service here. But the runaround these jokers gave me has made me vow never to buy even a paintbrush from there.