Samhwa Painting & Construction (Samhwa P&C)

“Paint your life!”
Helping people discover the exciting world of paint in everyday surroundings

Here’s our interview with Song Eun-jin, the energetic CEO of Samhwa P&C in Suseong-gu, Daegu.

Spouses working together
at the same store every day

“Welcome to Samhwa P&C, a company with two decades of history located right in the heart of Daegu. My husband and I moved down here from another city a few years ago to inherit this business from my father. We’ve been working side by side at the store ever since! But it never gets boring since we both love playing pranks on each other.”

Samhwa P&C, situated along a major road in Suseong-gu, Daegu, is much larger inside than it looks on the outside. The couple is busy answering telephone calls and welcoming guests even at lunchtime. The store has a long clientele list that includes many regulars. It also welcomes guests of all ages.

“We keep our patrons happy by becoming friends with them. We approach our older guests like we’re their kids, and guests our age like we’re their friends. We make sure to answer their questions in detail and try to deliver a feel-good experience to everyone who visits. Both my husband and I worked a long time for big companies. Our experience in dealing with people from diverse backgrounds and settings has come in handy while running this business.”

Continuing her
father’s legacy

“My father worked in the paint industry for more than 30 years. He ran this Samhwa dealership in Daegu for over 15 years. The strong client base that he built through all those years helps us a lot.”

Despite their years of work experience, Song and her husband at first felt like twentysomethings entering the workforce for the first time when they took over this family business from her father. When asked if she could count on her father’s help in her early days of struggle, Song shook her head. “My father was a big believer in learning through trial and error. We had to learn everything from the ground up.” Her father has gotten a bit more involved nowadays, manning the counter on weekend afternoons to give Song and her husband a bit of much-needed time to spend with their young children.

“One change we’ve made to the business is taking part of our sales operation online. When my father was the sole owner here, he didn’t bother to venture into the world of e-commerce. Forecasting that the demand for do-it-yourself painting and interior design would only grow, we decided to also cater to online consumers, introducing a wide range of painting products to them.”

Wood stains are the main seller on Samhwa P&C’s online store. Song goes out of her way to make the online shopping experience easy for every customer, taking detailed photos of every new product and writing product descriptions herself.

“My main focus these days is managing the online part of our operation. We’re still quite new to e-commerce, so we have yet to see major growth in the number of orders we receive through that channel. But growing it is where I dedicate most of my time and energy. I make sure to ship only top-quality products, and do all the online editing involved in uploading new products while responding to online customer demand. I monitor YouTube and social media to stay current with the latest trends and hopefully find products that cater to them.”

“Paint your life”:
Helping people see the charm of painting

When Song pulls the shutter down at the end of the day, we can see a vivid work of graffiti saying: “Paint your life.” Song put additional lights up on the shutter so that passersby can see the place at night even after the store is closed. It’s been about a year since she had the graffiti put on, and it has had favorable reactions from her customers.

“I put it there because I wanted passersby to realize that there is a paint store right here. Koreans are not used to using paint very often, but paint is a key feature of almost every product we use every day. Why not use paint to make your life more exciting and fun? That was the thought I was hoping to elicit in potential customers.”

The optimistic energy displayed by Song and her husband infuses the lively graffiti. As parents of two young children, they hope to maintain and grow their business until their kids reach adulthood. They want to raise a happy family and run a happy store.

“Nothing happens unless you do something. Running a store like this can feel repetitive and boring. That’s why I want to try something new every year. My goal is to make this a feel-good store where customers feel happy. They could go to some other paint store, but I hope they come back because they remember fondly the time they spent here.”