Janovic Paint & Decorating Center

Worst advice I have ever gotten. Needed paint for a custom cut/​shape shelf over a stove in the kitchen. Was advised to use Benjamin Moore Semi-​gloss latex. This stuff remains sticky after a week. Always sticky like it never dries. Put anything on it and it sticks. Leave it a while and it will pull up paint.
$ 20 a quart ripoff and my project is ruined.
A professional later suggested I should have been advised to use an acrylic enamel.
This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of knowing vs pretending to know. Then again, perhaps malice is a character here as well.
Go to Home Depot. Go to another State; Just don’t go here.

Sonja and Winston are GREAT!!! They were super helpful. If you live near Hell’S Kitchen, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, Time Square or anywhere in NYC I would highly recommend going to this Janovic.

First off I want to start by saying I would rate this store a half of one star if it were possible but the great customer service from Tania the sales representative was very helpful she was respectful and knowledgeable about the paint that I intended to buy however I didn’t purchase my product based off of the sales rep named Kevin who was rude very nasty. He was under fuzy a stick to help very rude made me feel uncomfortable in unwelcome in this location I came in to buy couple of gallons of primer and paint he didn’t seem to want to help. Seems very uninterested I deal with a lot contractors and I feel that I will never send any of my clients and any of my colleagues to this location to purchase anything because I wouldn’t want to be embarrassed by referring them to this location if Kevin is the one that’s going to be dealing with them. The young lady Tania would be the who I will refer them too.

Been here three times for different painting supplies, and to return items. As the other reviews say, you really need to know what you want. This place seems to serve a lot of the local painters, and they don’t cater to those that don’t know what you want. But they had everything I needed and they we as helpful as I needed them to be. The return I made was without question, and was quick and painless.

I have never given a place 1 star before! So that says something. They might have a wide variety of stuff but their prices are nothing special and their customer service is horrible. It is hard to tell who works here and when you find someone that does work here they are annoyed by helping.
The man at the front who I believe to be the owner is the least helpful! Make sure you double check your order because it is frequently wrong. They have terrible product knowledge. They might not even know they work at a paint store? I’m not sure what I can recommended is go to Epsteins! They are super helpful! And have products for theatre and home.

I barely ever write reviews, but this place deserves the worst possible, be forewarned and make the extra effort to go elsewhere (Janovic on 23^rd is decent). I’ve only ever had a benjamin moore standard color mixed wrong twice, both at this place, only two times I’ve ever ordered paint here. The manager is super rude and unprofessional. The worst paint store I’ve ever been to, and I used to paint for a living… this place is seriously amazingly bad.

After many rude and unhelpful encounters with the «staff» at this place, I moved all my hardware business across 9^th Avenue to Westside Hardware but I continued to use this Janovic as it’s the closest Ben Moore paint supplier. FROM NOW ON, I am going out of my way to find other Ben Moore dealers as this place is the pits when it comes to sales and customer service. Rude, unfriendly, unknowledgeable and unhelpful staff, particular one guy who’s first name begins with H., don’t want to throw names around here but he’s the only one with that initial, who is the biggest culprit in the store. Surly, spends lots of time laughing and joking on the phone, very unhelpful and basically rude.
AND they no longer stock many basic shades of white, they have to be mixed in the back, and the shades sometimes do not match from can to can. Bad business all the way around. Bye bye Janovic on 9^th avenue, hello American Home Hardware (closest Ben Moore supplier) on 9^th and 42^nd.

This store nearly spoiled my joy of painting and decorating the inside of my kitchen’s closet pantry. I was so excited: bright orange, my favorite color!
Let me preface this review by saying that the younger gentleman with whom I consulted and who was extremely helpful and courteous in explaining the various paint textures, etc. to me, was not party to the misogynistic treatment I received upon my return the next day to make my purchase; unfortunately for me, he was not there.
I hope the fossil behind the counter who eventually sold me the paint can find it in his heart to forgive my being a woman.
Younger gentleman had quoted me a price which somehow had increased overnight by $ 3.89. Okay, I’m a reasonable person, but come on I’m neither deaf nor daft, I know what I heard and went in intending to pay that price. Fossil was adamant about the new price, claiming that he had overheard that higher quote the day before. Whatever happened to «the customer is always right?» Ah, I forgot: I’m the wrong gender.
So, as I wrote, reasonable I was not going to argue over $ 4; I prepaid and stood at the counter awaiting my receipt. Beat. Seven beats. Down-​counter at the next register, a co-​Fossil placed a form in front of himself which I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye. Ever nice, I asked, «Is that my receipt?»
«Yes.»
So I walked over to the next register to pick up my receipt and then returned to Fossil #1, whom I told I would be back later to pick up my order.
An hour passed and there I was, back in Geezerville. The paint smear atop the gallon can was true to my color selection, however, the can was dented, which I pointed out to Fossil #1. No response. Now I ask you, shouldn’t a $ 40 can of paint (already overpriced by $ 4, mind you) be, at the very least intact and, if dented, be sold at a discount? How I wish I had brought the dog along; I would have sicced him on both fossils, but their dusty old bones would probably have gagged him.
«Do you need a bag?»
«No, I have one.» Beat. Seven beats. A nice gentleman customer assisted me in placing the gallon can of paint in my cloth tote; F1 couldn’t have been bothered to do so and couldn’t have cared less. Wait. Something’s missing.
«Hey, can I get a stirrer?» Sheesh! «Don’t treat me so poorly!»
«You want two?»
I should have told him where to shove the second offered stick, but what I most wanted was to get home and to Unilocal asap. If only I had followed my mind and gone to Home Depot. But nooooo. I wanted to give the neighborhood merchant my business because I’ve lived in Hell’s Kitchen for many years and have seen stores come and go: anything to help people stay in business. But they will be serving frozen peppermint margaritas in Hell before I grace Janovic with the pleasure of my money again and, if you’re as smart as I know you to be (especially you, women), you will follow my lead.
Atrocious salesmanship! There’s nothing worse than chauvinistic pigs, err, old boars!
The end.
P. S. Now I’m going to phone and, in my sweetest voice, tell those two to read Unilocal,after I explain the internet to them.

Started working in the area and ran here when I realized I needed a few odds and ends like rags, drop cloths and a sponge brush. The staff was friendly and efficient. Later in the week I went back for a few gallons of paint and was well served by both the cashier, salesman and stock man. Since then I have been using them as my go to source for paint and supplies. It is a little more expensive than buying in NJ but MUCH more convenient!
I only give them four stars because while they seem to be great guys to me, I see how short they can be with certain customers.
If you know a little bit about what you want an speak confidently but politely they warm up to you very quickly. The customers with problems and no patience get the short shrift.
A good place to shop if you have a handle on what you need.

NOT very helpful. The stock person was sweet and tried, but the sales people treated me like I had the plague. I’d looked at their site and was somewhat informed before walking in but just needed some expert advice. It was like pulling teeth. One guy basically said «this is what we got» and had no interest in seeing color samples I had on my phone to see if they could match it. And when I was deliberating about a brand of acrylic deck paint with limited colors, no one said, «Hey there’s another brand with a larger selection of colors». Such a suggestion would have been helpful and is sales 101. After I settled for one and lugged it home, I noticed that one of the booklets I had was a different brand with more colors. I was looking for interior paint too and had compiled quite a few booklets. Selection is decent but customer service is fair at best. I have been doing home improvements over the years since about 2005. I shop at Home Depot (Chelsea and Brooklyn), Lowes (NJ and VA), Pintchik (Ace) in Brooklyn, and local Brooklyn hardware stores. I’ve honestly never experienced such disregard ever. I noticed other hardware stores along Ninth. I will check out some of those if I need anything else while in this area. Meanwhile I am now off to return the deck paint I bought yesterday.

Do not, repeat, do not, go to this paint store. Where to begin? The staff is rude and could care less. The surly woman at the counter recommended I get a water-​based primer even though I repeatedly told her I was certain I needed oil-​based. Sure enough, my stained vanity started peeling! I don’t know why I let them bully me. I should have known better, because the trip prior they sold us paint that was not well-​mixed. This place is terrible. There are many other places you can get Benjamin Moore paint and decent service in the city; try those: either West 3d and 6^th Ave. or on 4^th Ave below Union Square.

Not going back to this place.
First, working with a friend in painting his business, they definitely did not mix paint correctly!
Secondly, the workers there are pretty rude. Got turned away for business because it was a few minutes before closing — I mean you are still open, let me shop. So instead. They let me in only to tell me to come back in the morning. You know. I work full time. Time is money.
Next, I go to buy a tinted kitchen and bath paint. They make you pay for the paint before they mix it. So I paid. Then they tell me they are out of kitchen and bath paint and tell me the only other option is a type of paint that is $ 20 more a gallon. No thanks. I say I’ll go across the street to Westside Hardware. So this guy working the cashier takes about half an hour to give me my refund. He was clearly taking the piss.
NOT going back here. There are a few other spots in the neighborhood to try first.

I haven’t posted that many reviews on Unilocal,but I feel like I need to warm people about this place…
Here’s the story:
Prior to moving into our brand new apt, my boyfriend and I (smartly) decided to have it painted before all our furniture arrived to avoid any issues that painting a whole apt full of furniture presents. We picked out colors, and the painters we contracted to do the job bought the paint from their wholesale contact and did a fabulous job painting all our rooms. Fast-​forward a few days later, and we had to get our cable rerouted in our wall, so needless to say, once all the holes had been made and re-​patched, those few areas needed to be repainted with our living room paint. Since there wasn’t enough left over from our painters, I swung by this Janovic store (and Benjamin Moore retailer) and picked up a quart of the same color paint. The wall was repainted in those spots and matched PERFECTLY. If only my story stopped there…
This past weekend, our painters came to do a few miscellaneous touch-​ups in our living room (around light plates, etc, a few smudges from the movers, nothing too huge). In anticipation of them coming, I went back to this Janovic and purchased another quart of paint for them to use. So I was pretty surprised when I came home to find my painters waiting for me with an explanation that the paint store had actually given me a paint that was about 3 – 4 shades lighter than the original paint. This wasn’t evident when the paint was in the can, but EXTREMELY evident once they started touch-​ups. They ended up having to paint one entire living room wall all over again with the newer, lighter paint, and now have to come back next weekend to repaint the rest of the living room and hallway. The worst part of this is I went to the Janovic store to explain what happened (I literally just got back) and did not have a positive experience with the manager there at all. First, he told me it was my fault that the paint they mixed for me was the wrong color (it wasn’t– I double checked the number and name of the paint) and then he told me it was the painter’s fault because they had obviously used the wrong color in the first go around (this isn’t the case, since I purchased a quart of paint from the store that was a perfect match only a week before). All I was asking him for was 2 gallons of paint to address the error that their store had made, and instead of listening to me, he berated me, constantly interrupted me, and was not helpful at all. I even brought along a photo I had taken of my wall with the two different colors and he insisted that the photo was «playing tricks with light» (although I showed it to a customer in the store at the counter next to me, and he agreed the 2 colors were different, the incorrect one being much lighter than the other). I now have to pay for more paint, which I will MOST CERTAINLY get from another store, and even worse, have to pay for my painters to come back and repaint the entire room/​hallway. The manager of this Janovic has a complete and total lack of customer service– just a very rude, inconsiderate man who would not listen to reason. I will NEVER go to this store again and I don’t think anyone else should patronize it either.