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Galveston is not a random choice of host city. In 1927, Frank McCoy moved his family and a small roofing business from Houston to that island, and everything McCoy’s Building Supply became over the following century started there. Nearly a hundred years later, the company still gathers its suppliers in the same place, every year.
Panel Rey was part of the McCoy’s Vendor Show 2024, and we brought our expanded product range to show a partner we value a great deal.
A Vendor Show Is Not an Industry Show
The distinction is worth drawing, because the two get lumped together and they are not remotely the same exercise.
At an industry convention, a manufacturer presents to the market at large: contractors, specifiers, competitors, press. At a vendor show, you present to one company — and specifically to its people. The buyers, yes, but also the store managers and the staff who work the counter across dozens of locations.
That last group is the one manufacturers underestimate. When a contractor walks into a building supply store with a question about which board to use for a wet area, or which compound will behave in August heat, they do not call the manufacturer. They ask whoever is standing behind the counter. That person’s answer decides the sale — and, more importantly, decides whether the right product ends up on the job.
A product is only as good as the recommendation that reaches the customer. Vendor shows are where that recommendation gets earned.
So a day spent explaining our systems to McCoy’s team is not a promotional exercise. It is product training with a very direct return, for them and for us.
A Broader Range to Show
We arrived with a significantly wider portfolio than in previous years — the result of steady investment in our manufacturing capacity and in the range of solutions we can offer the U.S. market. For a retailer serving contractors, custom builders, ranchers, and do-it-yourselfers across dozens of stores, breadth matters: it means fewer suppliers to coordinate and more complete answers for the customer at the counter.
Walking that range through with the McCoy’s team gave us the chance to explain not just what each product does, but where it fits — which is the part that actually helps someone make a recommendation.
Two Companies That Count in Decades
There is a natural understanding between businesses that measure their history in decades rather than quarters. McCoy’s remains family-owned and independent, one of the largest privately held building supply companies in the country, with 85 locations across Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Panel Rey has spent four decades building a reputation in gypsum systems.
Companies with that kind of horizon tend to think about relationships the same way: as something you maintain, not something you close. Which is why the dinner shared with McCoy’s partners and employees mattered as much to us as the show floor did. Business gets done in the booth. Trust gets built at the table.
What We Take from a Show Like This
A better-informed sales floor. Store teams who can confidently recommend the right Panel Rey solution for a specific job.
Direct feedback from the retail front line. Insight into what customers are asking for, and what they are struggling to find.
A stronger partnership. Time invested in a distributor relationship that has been years in the making.
Deeper roots in Texas. Presence in a market where our commitment continues to grow.
Thank You, McCoy’s
Our thanks to McCoy’s Building Supply for the invitation, the hospitality, and another excellent show. We are proud to be one of your suppliers, and glad to keep strengthening a friendship that has been built over years rather than months.
Here is to continuing to build it together.
