Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Financial, legal, advertising, pricing, marketing, accountancy, bookkeeping, employment, taxation, etc.
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

Hi everyone, I haven't been a big contributing member on this forum but I have learnt an awful lot of framing techniques and business ideas for my business so thank you all for that. Sorry about the essay but please bear with me.
I have a dilemma which I would appreciate some advice on. I've been framing since I left school 8 years ago and 4 years ago I took over a run down shop on the high street which was already a gallery and framers. We have put a lot of work into the business and now my wife and I work together full time, the the gallery looks lovely and we get a lot of good feed back about how nice the artwork is and our range of stock and our entire business turns over more than 4x what the previous owner did.
The shop is split into 3 sections, gallery at the front about 4m2, a smaller middle room where we deal with framing customers and have our displays and then our workshop which is about 1/2 the size of the premises. When dealing with customers we spend a lot of time in the middle room which is quite small and dark with no natural light and not very good when someone has a bigger item to frame due to the space constraints.
The gallery earns only 5% of our total income but takes up a lot of our time (dealing with time wasters, promotion, new stock, etc etc) and over 1/4 of the floor space for the premises. With the framing getting busier all the time, we are wondering whether it is worth closing the gallery and turning it into an eye catching showroom. The idea is to expand on our framing services (gilding, hand finishing which I love to do but don't advertise enough, get a cmc mount cutter, deals and promotions etc) and focus purely on the framing side of the business.
What are your thoughts on this? Wise move or bad idea? Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
Uncle Sumo
Posts: 184
Joined: Sun 24 Feb, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Wirral

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Uncle Sumo »

Having the exact same thoughts myself. Artists can be demanding especially in time. Art for sale pops up regularly around here in festivals, exhibitions, pop-up shops. Very low set up costs if people throw up a gazebo or club together in a local hall or rent a closed shop for a month. No pop up framing though.
Sean
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

We've been discussing it for a few days now and we think it's the way forward for our business. It's a lot of work and a bit of a head ache because it will mean completely refitting our shop and changing the signs etc so we want to make sure it's definitely the right thing to do. Has anyone actually done this?
Matt
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by prospero »

I have more or less come to the same state of affairs. I have a quite nice retail area - about 20ft sq. Double windows. Workshop/storage right behind.
But in recent years I have not really had the time to maintain a good display of stuff on the walls. I seem to be doing bigger frames and sometimes I have no choice but to use the sales area as an overflow workshop. Sometimes I even close the front door and leave a note to tell folks to come around to the side door and holler. I also have my dedicated saw shed out back so I have to do this anyway.
Off the wall speculative sales never did account for a significant part of the turnover anyway. I like to have pictures on the walls. But they have become examples rather than stuff for sale. That's not to say I'm more than chuffed when I do sell one. :D

A nice side effect of half-closing and leaving a 'go round the side' note is that it's only a short distance and it seems to act as a very good tyrekicker filter. You can see all the pictures on the walls from outside and anyone who goes the extra mile to knock on the side door will at least be a mostly serious customer.

I think you have to use what space you have to maximum advantage, even if on the face of it may seem a bit weird to the uninformed. :lol:
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Not your average framer »

My whole shop is the workshop and has been so from the day I started. It was not how I wanted it to be, but when I moved in I found that there was not enough space to get everything in and still have space for a proper gallery area.

It may seem strange, but people tell me that they like my shop, because it reminds them of the sort of shops that you no longer see anymore. My psudo-name of "Not your average framer" came from one of these very same cusomers!

It seems to me that galleries only work in the right type of locations and my town is not a good location for a gallery, but I've been here now for ten years as a framer, so I figure that you don't need to have a gallery to be operating as a framer.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Roboframer

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Roboframer »

Welcome to the forum!

Gallery sales may only account for 5% of total income but do you know if any of that income would not have been generated without the gallery? Would the same amount of people have come through the door without it?
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Not your average framer »

Of course the gallery creates business for the framing side of the business and yes, if you remove the gallery aspect of the business, you will lose the framing orders which the gallery side of the business might otherwise produce, but does that mean that it's not worth exploring your instincts to see how it works out?

What are the real strengths of your business? Is it that frightening to recreate your business to fully exploits your strengths? I don't think that you would be asking the question, if you did not already think that this probably is the next most obvious step forward for your business.

Maybe you can make it less scary by making it a gradual transition and see what happens. After all, If you decide that you've made a mistake, than you can always reinstate the gallery and you will not regret never having tried something that your instincts are clearly leading you towards trying.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

Good advice and thanks all for commenting.

Roboframer- The problem we have is that due to our location, we get too many time wasters which we have to deal with in the gallery. They think we are a museum so just come in for a look with no intention of buying anything but want to talk as well and like a good salesman, I try and interact with as many people as poss because you never know who's a genuine buyer.

There is a very good arts scene in my town and quite a few galleries and arty shops and whereas 4 years ago when i took over the shop there were about 5 framers within 10 miles of me, most have retired and now there is only me and one other part time guy who can't even cut a double mount and thinks masking tape is the answer to every framers problems so we have cornered the market a bit locally. After staying up until the early hours pondering what to do and putting a business plan together, closing the gallery and moving the framing to the fore seems like a good step forward.

We have 2 good sized front windows so we could use one window and the adjacent corner to it selling framed prints of the local area which have always sold pretty well. Minimize the gallery, make it easier to run and change our target market so we can concentrate on expanding the framing.
Matt
User avatar
pramsay13
Posts: 1374
Joined: Tue 27 Sep, 2011 11:46 am
Location: Stonehouse, Lanarkshire
Organisation: Picture Framer (ML)
Interests: picture framing (no, really!) sport, music
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by pramsay13 »

Sounds good to me :)
You could always do one-off events as a gallery, like maybe one weekend every few months have an event where you will sell artwork.
simoonez
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat 09 Jul, 2011 4:09 pm
Location: North Dorset
Organisation: Dorset Framing
Interests: pasties

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by simoonez »

I think you've come to some good conclusions there but I'm in a slightly similar situation.
I've not been set up as long as you, I starting from fresh, and I'm not (quite) on the high street. I do have a gallery/workshop combo where, on a simple level, the gallery costs money rather than earns. I do however, believe it's paid for itself in bringing customers in who wouldn't otherwise have come in. I'm more than happy for people to come in and browse with no thought of buying, I think art must be for the masses. I would of course be a lot happier if they all bought but that's a different matter.
Our course of action is going to be slightly different. We're going to close the gallery section here and convert it into the frame display/consultation area, and set up the gallery again in a high street premises in a different location -about 20 miles away. This (we hope) will give us a wide geographical range while keeping costs manageable (small high street combined with large backstreet workshop), and giving us a high street presence.
I think in your situation however, given that your presence is quite strong I would probably do away with the gallery section and just frame. Our gallery was to let people know of our existence and it feels like it's done all it can in this location. Perhaps yours has done its job.
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

One off events sounds good and possibly renting out one or both of our windows for a week or 2 at a time could be an option (although the wife's not as keen on this idea).

Simoonez - I understand what you mean about people coming in to the gallery and realizing you do framing as well. We often get people walk straight through the moulding display room and into the workshop to ask if we do framing. We even had a guy come in and ask us who does our framing and where. I thought he was joking but he was dead serious. :Slap: The biggest dilemma with us is is it worth losing the customers we get through looking in the gallery? It's a risk but my argument to this is that our particular shop has been a framing shop for over 20 years and there have been 4 other framers in this premises before us so it is very well established and known as a framing shop and (not blowing my own trumpet) we have a good reputation as competent reliable framers who know their stuff and I'm hoping that this will outweigh any incidental customers we would have got through the gallery.

Also a new ruddy big sign which says "Picture Framing Workshop" above the front door might lure more serious customers in. At the moment the sign only really highlights the gallery and it's not so obvious that we do framing as it's in a room behind the gallery, bad marketing I know but we were new to it all when we designed the signage and we didn't have a lot of choice with the shop layout.

Sorry for waffling on about this. Something needs to change and it feels right to focus and streamline the business. I think I've made my mind up.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. :D
Matt
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by prospero »

A man is walking down the street and sees a shop with pictures in the window. He has some pictures he needs framing so he goes in to enquire. On one wall there are 100s of moulding chevrons so he thinks he's on a winner.....

Man: Good Morning Mr.Shopkeeper. I have some pictures that need framing. Would you be able to do them?

Shopkeeper: Sorry Sir. I don't do picture framing.

Man: What? Do you just sell art then?

Shopkeeper: No. I don't sell art either.

Man: Well may I be permitted to ask what exactly you do do then???

Shopkeeper: I neuter cats and dogs.

Man: WTF! Why the heck have you got all those pictures in the window then?

Shopkeeper: Well what would you put in the window? :?
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
DCS
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun 11 Dec, 2011 12:48 pm
Location: Durham UK
Organisation: Durham City Studios
Interests: Photography and Framing
Location: Durham City
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by DCS »

We went the opposite way and altered the front of our shop from a reception area into a gallery with three print browsers and loads of stuff on the walls plus chevrons.
Being very close to a passport office we do lots of passport pictures in our studio which is through the back of the shop and upstairs and we invariably have people waiting for their turn in the gallery area.
A high percentage head straight for the print browsers to kill five minutes waiting time and on quite a few occasions we have sold prints both in frames, mounts and stand alone.

We also have in term time about 12,000 students in Durham and at graduation times we change our window from general prints and frames to souvenir prints of Durham (Cathedral, Castle, University etc.) which seems to work in our favour as Mummy & Daddy tend to buy them.
For my sins I own and operate
http://www.durhamcitystudios.com
Otters Pool Studio
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu 15 Mar, 2007 10:11 am
Location: Guildford
Organisation: Otters Pool Studio
Interests: Hobbies?
Location: Guildford, Surrey, UK
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Otters Pool Studio »

We had a busy gallery with a rolling schedule of exhibitions and booked up a year in advance. But like you, 90% our revenue came from the framing which was squashed onto two small benches at the back of the gallery space. Why allocate 90% of our space to 10% of our revenue?

We decided to close the gallery and build the showroom we always wanted, with a massive island bench (see photo). We still have wall space to show off our framing but focus just on local scenes by local artists. We haven't looked back, especially with gallery sales currently so low all over the country at the moment.
Our gallery
Our gallery
studio.jpg (38.1 KiB) Viewed 13810 times
Jon.
Otters Pool Studio
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Not your average framer »

I think that it's quite informative to keep an eye on the nature of the mix of items which customers bring to you for framing. Whatever your mix consists of right now is just a snap shot in time and it's unlikely to be exactly the same in a year, or two years time, but it can give some limited indications of what types of art customers are buying at this time.

Right now, I'm not seeing many limited edition prints from the major art publishers, but I am seeing a reasonable volume of the higher quality limited editions from the more gifted self publishing artists. I also see some evidence that this appears to be an ongoing trend.

Volume levels of framing for original paintings are tending to account for a useful proportion of our framing work, but I would say that there's a mix between framing new paintings and reframing older paintings. One fairly recent trend has been older customers getting older items reframed to look more upto date, in order that the next generation will not just chuck these items in the bin when the inevitable day comes.

With so many artists going direct to the art buying public, I'm not sure how much of a gallery based recovery of art sales we are likely to see in the future, but I strongly suspect that some of the market for limited edition prints from major publishers may have gone for ever and has been replaced by artists selling direct to the end customer.

As more and more artists are becoming increasingly internet and social media savy, I strongly suspect that this trend will continue and therefore an increased emphasis on framing, rather than gallery art sales may be the smart move for many of us!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by prospero »

Interesting to note just what stuff people get for framing.

I'd say 90% of what I do are original paintings - mostly oils/acrylics. Big 'uns and little 'uns. Plus a few prints - mostly canvas prints. Fair amount of reframing.

The rest is photos.

I rarely get needleworks nowadays, although I have four waiting to be done. Haven't done any objects for years. I think I remember doing some coins about 20 years ago. And a set of little saucers even longer ago.
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
Roboframer

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by Roboframer »

Maybe the type of stuff coming in relates to peoples' perception of a premise and its staff.

Most needleworkers, for example, are meticulous and might be put off by a place that looks like a skip has been emptied in to it, full of fumes that make them giddy and run by some geezer in a filthy apron with a pencil behind his ear. Even if the truth might be they'd actually get a better job done than in that other place with 4 huge walls with just one picture on each, polished wood floors, fancy spots and some geezer in a white shirt, black waistcoat, ponytail and a smell of Chanel Monsieur - and that's just the air freshener.
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

We probably frame mounted prints more than anything else. We also frame quite a lot of needlework. We seem to get in more textile art every year from various local clubs and artists. I think it could be the previous guy used to superglue any textile art he got onto board and when I took over from him he told me he almost never got any textile framing jobs anymore. No surprise really! Quite a few people were not happy about this. We have always laced textile work so probably its taken a few years to regain the trust a bit. Don't know.

Quick update on the original subject of this thread: We've written up a new business plan and are in the initial stages of making the changes. The last 4 years have been a huge learning curve for me and i was only 20 when I took over the shop and knew nothing basically nothing about running a business (or anything for that matter) so now it seems like a good time to changing the way our business runs and get it up to date and more streamline which will save time and brain cells. One thing we didn't originally think about was how little we have promoted the business and all of the marketing ideas (a lot of it free) we could do with the extra space. We are going to try and make the business more of a local brand. Eg. Logo on absolutely everything which goes out the front door (eg. Printed jute bags which are popular), promotions with "free" giveaways, loyalty schemes, email marketing and newsletters. Basically things we have always said we would do but have not had the space or time to do. Any ideas for marketing and shop displays would be appreciated! Also we have looked at our outgoings and come up with ways to save us nearly £2500 a year! Using gummed tape will save us over £300 a year. And making lunch at home instead of buying. It soon adds up!
Matt
BlueSkyArt
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue 08 Jan, 2013 4:25 pm
Location: Dorset
Organisation: Blue Sky Framing Ltd.
Interests: Running, travelling, running, furniture making, running.
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by BlueSkyArt »

Quick update. Since my last post on this thread we have completely changed our business image and made it more uniform and brand oriented. We have gone for a rustic, approachable image that we think suits our customer base (and our own personal tastes). We are minimizing the gallery to one corner and completely renovating the shop to make it into a proper show room, new flooring, new moulding selection, shop layout etc. W've started to make a rustic/shabby chic shop counter top out of a huge piece of cedar with a waney edge (smells amazing!) and we should hopefully be receiving gunnar cmc in the next few weeks so busy busy busy but happy days.
Matt
misterdiy
Posts: 885
Joined: Sun 13 Jun, 2010 9:15 pm
Location: Isle of Wight
Organisation: Decormount
Interests: Picture framing, mount-cutting, photoshop et al
Location: Isle of Wight
Contact:

Re: Close gallery and use as a framing showroom?

Post by misterdiy »

We used to spend a couple of weeks a year in Bridport until two years ago, but enjoyed the town. we were sussing it out to start a framing venture down there and I seem to remember that there was a framers in a corner of what was an antique centre (near the bus station) if you are located in that area then I fully agree that a gallery would not do well at all in that location - it would need to be on the main street to have much chance.

We decided not to move to Bridport, but may still come down and spend a week or so there in the future, but with a house move imminent, it will be a year or so. Best of luck with the framing. We will look you up and pop in.

Not much art sells anywhere at the moment. :(
Post Reply