What will the Frame Shop of Tomorrow look like?

FrameMakers

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Mar 20, 2001
Posts
7,395
Loc
Powell, OH
Tony started this thought on the future of framing thread. It got me thinking of my dream shop.

Large store, big box appearance 4000 sq ft of showroom. High ceilings, well lit, a super market of art & framing.
Hundreds of cheap oil paintings with enough margin to put them on sale regularly.
Wide selection of ready-mades all types and price points.
Cut mats and cut while-you-wait service.
400-500 in-stock moldings most with price points under $10.
Mirrors, mirrors & more mirrors.
Next-day service on most jobs.
Designed sales run more days than not.

The location should be in the same areas as Walmart, Meijer's, Home Depots, Loews and Michael's.

The store hours would be convenient for the customer not the framer. 10-9 Monday through Saturday, 10-6 on Sunday. Closed only the 7 major holidays

To make this work I feel that you would need at least a $10,000 dollar a month ad budget. TV, Newspaper & Direct mail.


Any other thoughts? feel free to add on or go a different direction.
 
We are Open all but Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, never had a $0 day on any of the other holidays. You have to be conienent to your customers because someone else will be if you are not.
 
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Is this the shop of yesterday or tommorrow?

John
 
What will the Frame Shop of Tomorrow look like? There will be none. You will be able to buy a digital copy of whatever artwork you choose in whatevr frame and then transfer the 3 dimensional image to whatever wall space you wish. lol
 
John- I also have a C. Bragg "Kramer the Framer" print. I got it at a trade show many years ago. It now hangs in our bathroom here at the shop. :cool: Rick
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Heck - I used to work for Kramer the Framer!!! I have the first print - framed it with the first frame I ever bought from Kramer!

Back in 1969, one of our workers even cut a print in half! And he had the pegboard, the glue pot, the flies, the apron - everything. Only thing Bragg left out was the stinky cigars laying around on the edges of all the workbenches! I started surrepticiously throwing them away - he got real mad! Then I brought in incense to cover the stench. He got nauseated!

Ah, those were the days! (NOT!)
 
Dave,

Why not as you wait service like LensCrafters? If all the inventory in there, you could even watch as the order is done. What fun that would be. (For the shopper I mean.)
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This might be OK for routine framing of posters and such, but for handling fine art, I believe that rushing would lead to mishandling and damage to pieces. Besides, certain phases of framing take time, like the drying of hinges.
 
Rick, I disagree. If you don't need to wait for materials to arrive, you can cut the mats and hinge the art before it is put away. this would require less handling and thus less chance for damage.

Also, just because the job would be due the next day, this wouldn't be a rush. What is the reason your current jobs aren't finished the next day. It's because of backlog and waiting for materials to arrive. If jobs are done quicker because of no lag in getting material there would be little to no backlog.
 
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