Panther Express

Paint stores in Manhattan rarely sit front-and-center; they’re the quiet backstop for flippers, renters, and landlords who need a gallon at 7 p.m. Panther Express keeps a low profile on the sixth floor of a nondescript building at 40 W 20th St, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The block itself is a steady hum of delivery trucks and sidewalk cafés, a stretch where hardware needs feel less urgent until the moment they don’t. They stock the usual suspects—interior eggshell, exterior satin, primer, and touch-up pens—alongside specialty lines that disappear from big-box shelves the second a trend hits. Across the street, a bodega sells lottery tickets and single rolls of painter’s tape; upstairs, the storefront offers the rest. Call ahead with the exact sheen and square footage—(212) 741-7803—and they’ll have it ready when you step off the freight elevator. Directions are best pulled from the map: sixth-floor suite in Chelsea, where the only thing thinner than the profit margins is the patience of a contractor on deadline.