NORWICH – For 47 years, Giltner’s has been serving the local community’s decorating needs by offering the finest of paints, wall coverings, tile, flooring and carpet. Now, with the second generation at the helm, the family-owned business is embarking on the next phase of its history.
On Sept. 1, the store’s long-time proprietor, Phil Giltner, turned over the keys to the business he purchased when he was just 19, to his son Mathew.
The younger Giltner said he always respected his father’s tenacity in purchasing the store in 1963, at the tender age of 19. In those early days, the shop occupied roughly 600 square feet of space on Hayes Street, from which Phil specialized in paint and painting supplies. Within a few years, he outgrew the space, however, and moved to its present 43 South Broad St. location. With close to 9,000 square feet to work with, the business expanded into the “decorating superstore” it bills itself as today.
Following in his father’s footsteps wasn’t something Mathew had planned. After graduating from Norwich High School, he pursued a liberal arts degree and then entered the Coast Guard.
“I did a lot of neat stuff,” he explained, talking of duty assignments in Key West and on an icebreaker. He spent the latter part of his service in search and rescue planning, working high profile events such as USAir Flight 5050, TWA Flight 800 and the 1991 storm which served as the basis for Sabastian Junger’s 1997 book, “The Perfect Storm.” He was the command duty officer on Sept. 11, 2001.
After retiring from the Coast Guard, he did stints as a commercial pilot and custom home builder. At the time, he and his wife Pam, who he married in 1993, lived in Hunterdon County, N.J. While they enjoyed trips home to Upstate New York to visit family, they had no intention of moving back to Mathew’s hometown.
That changed two years ago when Mathew came to Norwich for a class reunion. When he returned to New Jersey, he broached the topic with Pam. By the end of August (2008), they’d made their decision and decided to approach his father about buying the business, which they knew he was contemplating selling.
“We discussed it in depth with my father through October,” he said. After that, the pieces started falling into place more quickly than they anticipated – although Mathew is quick to credit planning and preparation rather than fate.
By November, the couple had purchased an old farmhouse. Shortly after, Pam, who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, walked into a job with Norwich Clinical Research Associates, which seemed to be tailor-made for her expertise.
“My wife and I work as a team,” he said.
While it took close to two years to orchestrate the transition of the business, Giltner said they haven’t looked back.
“We have so much fun being up here,” he said. “It’s really a good place to be.”
According to Giltner, it was his father’s focus on quality products and service which helped the business build a following of loyal customers. He said he not only plans to follow that tradition, but build on it to even better serve those who walk through the doors at 43 South Broad.
He has already started to modernize the store, including its inventory system. And in the coming months, he hopes to transform the space into a more “user-friendly” environment, with a design-center feel.
They will continue to carry well known brands like Benjamin Moore paints, Mohawk flooring and Shaw carpets, but he plans to introduce more “green” and sustainable product lines.
“That’s something that’s important to all of us,” Giltner said. Those products will include bamboo flooring and Marmoleum – a naturally bacterial resistant flooring made from wood flour and resin.
Giltner, who is keenly interested in local history and architecture, enjoys helping customers who are in the midst of historic home renovations. But whatever the project, he said, he and his staff are committed to helping the customer find the solution which is right for them.
The store is open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended evening hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Saturday hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 334-2323 or visit www.giltnerspaint.com.