Art Supplies & Classes

[Kath.ryn]

The recent post looking for sources for art supplies had me wondering how many frame shops offer them, and if you do are you selective or do you have a wide variety of supplies? Do you offer art classes as well and if so, how does that work for you? Thanks in advance for sharing any insights.

Kathryn

[Matoaka]

Our shop is about 2000 sq ft, so we had room for a small, but good supply. However, competing with the larger art and craft stores was tricky. We just couldn't buy in the volumn necessary. Our location helped, and our artist trade helped (for those items they forgot to order from somewhere else), but mostly we just barely broke even on art supplies.

The one thing that we carry that the art stores don't are the plastic envelopes for packaging matted art for fairs and small gallery sales. We get them from Impact Images. Again, it helps our artist trade.

[Tommy P]

We do not have any BB in our area other than Wal-Mart. So not as much competition as others. Still, we do'nt sell alot. More of a service and traffic builder. My wife is the artist half of our business. Classes here on sight when she has time. Works out very well.

If you have room and a teacher that you can work with I think it works nicely.

[Terry Hart cpf]

We carry a wide range of art supplies and do a bit more art supplies (by volume) than picture framing. No classes due to lack of space but would like to. The art materials market has changed in recent years due to the advent of computers, BB's, mail order and internet. It's getting tough but then so is biz in general these days. Gotta love it!

[Dave]

In my past life I had three art stores with the flagship store being 12,000 SF and every art supply under the sun.

We held classes fairly regularly, but found the most advantageous classes to be children's art classes during the summer months. Parents would come in and often browse for the entire class session buying all types of goods.
The kids were a joy to have in the store and created a very exciting gleeful environment. The goodwill was enormous and we had a constatnly changing exhibit in the store of youthful art "colored outside the lines". We also framed quite a bit of the projects for the parents.

We found our teachers among the private grade schools and had them co-ordinate most everything with us taking a minimal amount (I think it was about $ 2.00 per student per session of the class fees) for providing the space.

Our ceilings were 18 ft. tall and I wanted to make a 12 ft. refrigerator door out of fom-cor to display the work, but never did get that done.

We had an evening exhibition with punch and cookies at the end of the sessions and parents, friends, grandparents and teachers came...and bought.

I always was against judging children's art and therefore never had 1st, 2nd or 3rd place awards, but rewarded all the kids with a certificate and a nominal $5 gift certificate to our store.

Several times we had TV stations come out and interview our activities.

If I had the space in my present store I definately wopuld offer classes again and may find a way next summer.

We also sponsored youth art camps with a large outdoor tent and creative activities for a week during the summer. Not quite as rewarding because of costs for tent rental and weather unpredictability, etc.

Have parents sign a release and notify your insurance company if you undertake such events.

Well worth the efforts both in good will and generating store traffic. Adult classes were OK, but not near the fun! graemlins/icon21.gif

Dave Makielski

[YooperFramer]

kath.ryn...
where are you in michigan?
just curious, cuz i never see anyone from the U.P. on dis here grumble.
We carry an amount of art supplies and they are doing well enough to pay for themselves and the extra space we acquired.

we get alot of students and local artists.
and after all the deals and discounts it's not the best profits. The framing is what holds this place strong. smile.gif
oh yeah, and we havent gotten into the classes yet. but i seriously want to.

[Kath.ryn]

Thanks for the feedback - I thought having children's classes would be fun and, as pointed out would bring in adult foot traffic and awareness. Not sure if it will be worth the time spent developing that area versus concentrating on main business (framing). I'm tempted, though. I need to do more homework before setting out on that route.

Sorry to say I'm not a "yupper", but I love vacationing in the upper penninsula - I've caught some great rainbow trout over the years!

[EllenAtHowards]

It seems like on some days the art supplies carries the framing department and on others it's vice versa. But I like the days best where it's both! Classes are great. A teacher recommendation for something means selling 10 or so of them right away. (We are all looking for the Magic Brush, or Magic Paint to make our artwork look better) A lot depends on if you has staff that is otherwise standing around or whether you will have to pay for extra rent and staff to run the place. If the latter, then run a quick business plan to see if there is viability. But it works for us...