Larson Juhl & Hallmark Cards?

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Angus

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Oct 14, 2002
Posts
3
Loc
Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
I am fairly new to The Grumble, so I appologize for breaking in with a nasty topic but.... I have it from a reliable source that LJ has inked a deal to provide inexpensive (under $200) framed art to company owned Hallmark Card stores (appx 150 stores). If this concept works in these stores it will eventually roll out nationwide! Has anyone else heard this?
 
Welcome to the Grumble, Angus.

Does anyone have any info on the LJ thing?
I'm curious :confused:
 
Hallmark framing?...yes. LJ supplying?...maybe. LJ was part of Home Depot's Design Center along with Roma. Imagine my surprise seeing a framing counter with LJ corner samples covering the walls. Needless to say I am not a big LJ user. You may want to consider carefully which suppliers you choose to be "partners" with. They may end up your competitor.
How much different could your shop be if you feature the same mouldings as Home Depot or a large craft chain? By the way they closed the framing dept. at the design center a few months after.
I think once they had to re-cut a mat it was all over.
 
I may be dense (and have been so accused before), but how is this going to impact our retail custom picture framing business? It's not as if there aren't already businesses that cater to institutional and or huge volume preframed art retailers (whose prices we can't even dream of touching). I don't expect that Hallmark, or Holiday Inn, or even the local furniture store will be asking me to give them a quote for providing them with preframed art... and I wouldn't anyway. So this should have little impact on a custom framer IMHO. I am much more disturbed about the BigBox frame franchise having a company's mouldings and being able to sell them 50% off every week than that manufacturer opening a preframed art division... but I do understand that volume purchasing gets a better price.. and I only like it when it works in my favor ;)
 
Ellen, I don't think it would have anything to do with competing with our custom framing. But I do buy many of the framed samples LJ sells.

Plus if I have a little print framed on my wall in the same moulding Hallmark has a little card framed in, selling dirt cheap--I really don't want to hear it is LJ, and I don't want to hear it is cheaper. I will really be upset if it is one of those hand finished French mouldings that cost two arms and 1/2 a leg.

I will assume this is rumor or get more facts from my salesman.
 
Here is another thought, How many "Mom and Pop" frame shops are located in the same general shopping area, not to mention the same strip mall as a Hallmark card store? We are already competing against each other for a buck now another giant as well?

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! I am enjoying the exchange of ideas and knowledge. ;)
 
I don't think anyone is suggesting that Hallmark is moving into custom framing. If they did, they'd be just another big, impersonal chain in the biz.

Come on, folks, we're custom framers. If Hallmark Cards becomes a serious competitor, maybe you're missing your niche. How many of you sell significant amounts of pre-framed wall art? And if you really believe L-J is hurting you more than helping you, buy from someone else. Lots of framers do that.
 
Welcome Angus. Yep, the big guys like Michael's and Hallmark are hard to compete with--how about the Postal Service? I've been tempted to buy some of their framed stamp sets so I can sell the frame. The package probably cost less than it costs me to make. But...I'd have to figure out what to do with the stamps. I want LJ to make money so I can continue to get good service from them. If they are doing a deal with Hallmark there is probably a framer out there venturing with them and making money. I think Mark had a post a few weeks ago concerning a great volume deal he is doing. This may not be it, but I do small "volume" sales--same frame, same presentation, same art. When I'm bidding on one my LJ rep typically gives me extra good pricing on joined frames so I prepare a competitive bid and can get the job done without stressing.

I've been framing for only a few years so I'm still impressed with our ability to get great margins on a high percentage of our jobs as long as we do good work and help our customers make good decisions.

Now, for competition--we also do photoprocessing. That's a competitive business! I'm in a strip center with a supermarket that charges about 40 percent of what we charge. Got three drug stores within 1 mile that charge about 60 percent, and a Sam's a few miles away that charges less than my cost of goods (paper and chemistry, before adding labor and other expenses). We've grown about 25 percent during each of the past three years. Think we will be up about 35% this year. People like out service.
 
Welcome to TG Angus. I personally am not worried about the Hallmark thing. This is a similar subject that was covered at length awhile back. I forget the name of the thread, but you may want to search it out. Lot's of good points.
 
Originally posted by lyoncat:
"This is a similar subject that was covered at length awhile back."

lyoncat: is right, it was similar. The difference being that the original thread was about Hallmark teaming with Larson to do custom framing vs. now - the selling of pre-framed art. Quite a different animal. When custom framing post first appeared I checked with a friend who owns a Hallmark. They had just attended the franchise meetings and the subject was never discussed. If they are talking about only offering this initially in corporate owned stores than my source would not know about it until it was offered to the franchise group.

I always find it interesting that as a group the Grumble legion always places an emphasis on the fact that "we're custom framers" so the sale of preframed art shouldn't really impact our business. Keep in mind that many big boxes and now large retailers such as Sam's, Wal-Mart, Target, Michaels, Kohl's, Menards, and furniture stores, ect. now sell preframed art and in many cases a fairly wide variety. Ten years ago, or 5 in many geographic areas this wasn't the case. With selection not being an issue anymore, that business that used to walk into the frame shop, gallery arena is now buying from the boxes.

I have a customer that in the last three years has seen a Wal-Mart and a Target open up in her community. After a year of non-concern she finally started hearing from loyal customers that they we're buying decorative pre-framed art from these two locations because it looked good and it was much less expensive than the pre-framed art she had on her walls. Granted they also admitted that they didn't have the selection of preframed art for the type of taste for the area, (fishing scenes, hockey, ect.) but had more than an adequate selection of mirrors, sofa art ect. She has now priced several items to compete and her customers are comming back.

I always like to think that by offering preframed art, gifts, cards and the like that your shop can become more of a destination shopping outlet for your customers, just like many people will say that the boxes are destination shopping outlets for their variety of merchandise and price.

Just some thoughts.
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