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Business & Tech

Bob Strothkamp is Much More than Manchester's Paint Guy

The local business owner is indeed a paint expert, but he is also an active community volunteer.

 has been part of Manchester for more than 50 years, but owner Bob Strothkamp has never been more involved with the community than he is now.

Strothkamp opened Strothkamp Bros. in 1956 with his brother Harry. Their first store was located in the house in which the brothers had grown up; Bob and Harry’s parents had recently moved and the house was available. The brothers bought the property because the location was right, as was the price. 

Since then, the once small store has expanded extensively. The current, much larger store sits right next to where the original store stood on 14390 Manchester Road.

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And just as Strothkamp’s store has expanded, so too has his role in the community. 

Recently, he has been active in the building of, sitting on the project’s planning committee. 

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“I felt this was something that was needed in Manchester,” Strothkamp said of the memorial. “And I feel like there are a lot of really nice people on the committee and that it’s really been a godsend, and we’ve gotten a lot of nice comments on it.“

Strothkamp got involved with the  when he attended an early planning meeting and brought along a picture of one of Manchester’s first veteran honor rolls that he could remember way back from his childhood. The honor roll was a structure that at one time stood at the intersection of Manchester and Creve Coeur roads, and it listed all of the individuals from the Manchester area who died fighting in World War II.

“I knew a lot of the guys who were on that honor roll. I used to walk by it every day on the way to grade school (at St. Joseph’s Catholic School),” Strothkamp said. “But this memorial we’re building is more for everybody. It’s not just for the people of Manchester but for the whole community, the whole area.”

In addition to working on the memorial, Strothkamp is also on Manchester’s Historic Review Commission. The Historic Review Commission takes an active role in preserving older homes within Manchester, making sure they remain in good condition and are recognized as having historical significance.

Strothkamp has also been very active over the years in the  (MAA) and has even served as its president multiple times. His father helped found the MAA and was integral in buying the land and creating what is today the MAA Ballpark. The park, coincidentally, sits right behind Strothkamp Bros. Paint Center. Strothkamp said he remembers both plowing the land when it was a field and later playing baseball after the field was turned into a baseball diamond. Now, he said, he is still at the baseball fields often watching his grandkids play ball.

And just as Strothkamp has shown enthusiasm for acting locally within his community, the way he runs his business also shows that he doesn’t mind thinking globally, either.

In the past few years, Strothkamp said, he’s been proud to start offering paints that contain low amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or none at all. The paint industry as a whole has been offering these environmentally friendly paints as well, but Strothkamp said he’s serious about being green and doesn’t mind spending some green to do so.

Strothkamp's store recently purchased an expensive water-based tint machine that does not incorporate VOCs into the paint. Many other paint companies, Strothkamp says, advertise 'no VOC' paints but then tint those paints in ways that incorporate VOCs into the final product.

Strothkamp says that it is that level of dedication to the final product that has allowed his store to stay open for over 50 years, even as other chain hardware stores have moved in just down the road.

 “We’re not just like a hardware store that carries paint,” Strothkamp said. “We are paint people…I’m 78, I’ll be 79 soon. I’m here every day except a few I take off. I enjoy answering questions and dealing with people. I just enjoy coming to work and talking with people.”

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