Framer's
Spotlight:
Crestar/The Frame Factory,
E. Greenwich, R.I.By Ken Hall
How well do you think your frame shop would fare if you did no advertising
and your space was on the second floor of a giant warehouse building on a dead
end road?
Not very well, in all probability. But business at Crestar Mfg.,
LLC /The Frame Factory in East Greenwich, R.I. (about 20 minutes south of
Providence) is so good it was named to Decor magazine's "Top 100" list for
excellence in retail growth - two years in a row! And that's with zero ad
budget, very little walk-in traffic and an obscure location inside a huge
seaside mill building.
How do they do it? Partners Jason Dittelman and Cathy
Buchanan are one of the very few framing operations (about 3%) who are OEM's,
with a 90% wholesale business. Only 10% of sales are to the public; their
customer base is mainly photographers, galleries, artists, poster shops and
hotels.
The company was founded in 1998, as Crestar Mfg., LLC. Jason, with 23
years' experience in the photography business, set up Crestar as a wholesale
picture framing company, primarily to do large commercial jobs. Cathy previously
ran a sign business and had a background deep in sales and marketing. Their
skills and strengths were perfect complements.
"We operate a high-volume
production facility in 18,000 square feet of space," Jason said. "About half
that is studio space rented to artists and giclee makers. That still leaves
plenty of room for the commercial equipment needed for the efficient production
and storage of materials, both raw and finished." Cathy added, "We also
installed a spacious gallery, a lecture area and a community conference room."
Crestar has contracted with Artaffairs to build a custom framing site that
will be offered to preferred customers. "This site will allow them to promote
their art and offer it framed, in any of the over 160 frames that are in stock,"
Jason said. "Building a site of this complexity has been a real challenge. It
has taken much longer, and costs more, than originally planned."
Artists will
be sharing the costs of the site and will have to pay a small set-up fee to
produce their own home page, as well as a sliding commission on
sales.
Crestar also offers giclee printing, allowing an artist to print an
image after selling it from their proof copy or electronic image on the site.
"This keeps costs down," Jason pointed out, adding, "We will try to make it as
easy as possible for our customers to use our facility. We will print their
work, frame it and ship it. All they have to do is produce the
original."
Cathy spends a lot of time out and about, shaking hands and
traveling to galleries in New England and beyond, drumming up new business. She
also goes to art festivals and shows, wherever she can promote Crestar's
services. "And our turnaround time is very quick," she pointed out. "We've
basically spoiled our customers."
Recently, the firm secured a job from a
major manufacturer that had decided to get into framed art for the first time in
its history. "When we heard they were getting quotes from overseas, we thought,
'Oh, well, there goes that job,'" Cathy said. "But in the end, they came to us.
It was very rewarding, but a major challenge, too." The job calls for 11,000
framed pieces.
To learn more about Crestar and The Frame Factory, you can log
on to www.crestarmfg.com.
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