Doug Klinger remembers growing up around the family business, Klinger's Paint & Interiors, "helping." "I used to ride with the truck driver on Saturdays," he says, reminiscing about when he was 10 or so. "He'd always have a box of doughnuts. So I'd eat doughnuts and 'help,' so to speak."

Stacking paint cans as high as he could was another favorite childhood pastime.

Klinger, now office manager, is the fourth generation of Klingers in the business, which operates a retail shop at 333 Fifth Ave. SE. Paint manufacturing is at the company's plant at 5555 Willow Creek Dr. SW, a far cry from where it originated downtown.

In 1900, Klinger's great-grandfather, Wesley Klinger, founded the business as a supplier to contract painters. He opened his first store at 125 Third Ave. SW.

By the 1930's, he decided to make his own paint. The factory was on the third floor of the business, which, by then had moved to 117 Second Ave. SE.

"You couldn't do that today," Bob Klinger says of operating a manufacturing business downtown.

Bob Klinger, Wesley's grandson, is president of Klinger Paint. His brother, Don, is vice-president. Both brothers knew at a young age they would work their way up in the family business, which their father, Leo Klinger, had also led.

"We were ready and waiting out of school" to take over, Bob Klinger says. "A lot of businesses now don't have that going for them."

Bob's sons, Doug, and Rick, are both involved in the company, though the older generation has no plans yet to retire. Bob Klinger attributes the company's longevity to keeping "qualified people in the company all these years." The business employs 37, a number that hasn't fluctuated much. Product is shipped to all 48 contiguous states.

While well-known for its retail paint lines, the company also offers a "complete decorating center," at its Fifth Avenue store, with carpeting, blinds, wallpaper, custom drapes and picture framing. In volume, Klinger Paint's biggest business segment is the industrial side. It provides paint and other coatings for manufacturers of equipment, such as construction cranes. The firm survived two fires, in its early years, and now competition from bigger chains.

"We're very service-oriented," Bob Klinger says. "If you take that out of there, we wouldn't be where we are today."