By Mike Pickford
Scarborough, Ontario — September 15, 2016 — Barely a day on from the announcement that the FinishMaster brand would be expanding into Canada and the company has already taken steps to familiarize itself with its new surroundings.
Opening up its Scarborough location to the industry this week, representatives from the newly formed FinishMaster Canada and the organization’s parent company Uni-Select were on hand to introduce themselves to the market, welcoming more than 150 equipment manufacturers and bodyshop professionals from all across southern Ontario.
Speaking to Collision Repair magazine, Jeff Murphy, Uni-Select’s Director of PBE Sales for Eastern Canada, said the open house served as a fantastic opportunity for organization representatives to get to know some of their potential customers.
“We opened our doors and our customers really responded as we had well over 150 guests from all avenues of the collision repair industry come out and see what we’re about,” Murphy said. “This is FinishMaster’s big launch in Canada, so we wanted to do it right and make sure we’re properly introducing ourselves to the market here.”
A renowned and respected distributor of paint and related materials, FinishMaster has a distinguished history in the collision repair industry south of the border. First introduced to the American automotive aftermarket in 1968, the company has spent the best part of 50 years providing expert service to the industry. Following years of success, FinishMaster joined the Uni-Select family in 2011. Today, the company has 1,600 employees operating throughout 205 branches and four distribution centres across 31 states south of the border, serving more than 6,000 collision repair centres.
Starting out with three stores in Canada – FinishMaster Scarborough, FinishMaster Ottawa East and FinishMaster North York – the Canadian FinishMaster sites will offer Uni-Select’s complete line-up of national brand paint and related products. The three corporate stores are currently undergoing a rebranding process and are set for official unveiling later this month.
According to Murphy, the event in Scarborough proved to be a big hit amongst those in attendance.
“It was a fantastic open house. We made sure to bring some of our vendors in to talk to our customers, we offered up some entertainment and really brought everything together to make it as memorable a night as possible,” Murphy said. “We’re excited to be here and I think that excitement resonated with our customers. We’re looking forward to bringing some new materials, products, service levels and software into the Canadian marketplace.”
He added, “We have one of the best teams around and we’re all committing to ensuring this venture is a success, not only for our business, but for our vendors and our customers too.”
For more information on FinishMaster, visit finishmaster.com.
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