Why you should NOT use
paint grade slatwall for your retail environment
With the economy the way it is today, it is understandable why one might consider paint grade slatwall as a way of saving money. However; you may find that in trying to save a few bucks, you have cost yourself a huge amount of aggravation and grief. How so? you ask.
For one, paint grade slatwall is only about $5.00 - $7.00 lower than the cheapest color white. You can not paint a slatwall panel for 7.00 including paint and labor.
Slatwall is also fragile, and a painted surface is more likely to scratch as you move your displays around. Imagine this scenario: You have had your painted slatwall up a year and you notice your slatwall is looking scratched, scuffed and "beat up." This is not the image you want to project to your customers.
The only way to correct these issues is to re-paint the slatwall. So, here you go, it is Friday evening and you have your staff take all the merchandise off the slatwall. You can then spend a day or more (depending on how much slatwall you want to re-paint) re-painting the slatwall. Then it has to dry. After it dries, you then have to have your staff re-merchandise the entire wall. You have to put the inventory you took off back on the slatwall.
It is difficult to do this while you are open as the fumes from the paint will drive customers away. If the customer touches the wet wall, they will mess up your new paint job. Or, worse yet, they get some paint on their clothing and demand you replace the clothing or pay them some money. This whole process can be a big mess.
There are some legitimate reasons to use paint grade. If you want to put graphics on the wall or if you wish to add some design elements like running two stripes of color around your showroom, or the color you want just is not available to you, then go ahead and use paint grade. Remember, you will still need to re-paint once your wall starts showing wear.
Our recommendation to you is spring for the better panel and choose a lpl panel that has a color that enhances your showroom.
In business, it does not pay to be "penny wise and pound foolish".