Celebrating 45 Years
By Jay Goltz, Artists Frame Service Founder & CEOI’ve been a retailer since I was six years old.
I grew up helping customers at my father’s dime store on Armitage Avenue. When I was sixteen years old, I got a job in a custom frame shop and immediately found the end-result of choosing just the right frame and matting for a piece of art to be magical. I still do.
Working in a frame shop is not just creative, it is retail, and that is something I was an old hand at. My father retired in 1994, but occasionally customers still mention his store to me with fond memories. In a deep and profound way, I learned from my father the art and joy of helping customers.
When I graduated from college, I decided to combine my love of framing and retail and open a frame shop around the corner from my father’s store. I found a third-floor walk-up loft to rent, one block north of our existing location. At the time, Clybourn Avenue was an abandoned factory district best known for drag racing at night. I was the first retail business to open on the street, but it worked for me - maybe because it was only $200 a month to rent the space. And just like that, I was off to the races too!
The business took off very quickly and started to get more complicated. I had to learn how to hire people. College did not prepare me for the realities of growing a business from the ground up. While many people think motivation is the key to good management, years of trial and terror have taught me that 75% of good management is learning how to hire motivated people, and then not demotivating them. I empower my employees by giving them the support they need to get their job done. Average tenure - 11 years. Many over 20 years. That is motivating to me! And I don’t call them teammates. Teams win and lose. I think of them as artists, like musicians in an orchestra playing beautiful music together. A true collaborative effort.
After about fifteen years, Artists Frame Service had gotten so large that we were able to start importing incredible frames from Europe that had never made their way to the United States. We soon realized that we should be distributing our well-selected and tested line to frame shops all around the country - and thus, Bella Moulding was born.
Meanwhile, we had been gradually taking over the entire loft building that we occupied, and Clybourn had evolved into a retail corridor. I started selling art, furniture, and accessories because I sensed my customers would appreciate a well-curated selection of other home furnishings. This was the beginning ofJayson Home, gallery 1871 and Chicago Art Source. We used the same strategies of finding incredible artisans around the world who, because of their limited size or business experience, were not exporting to the U.S. With these unique goods, we were able to offer our customers something they might not be able to find elsewhere, which helped us to grow a devoted following.
The growth continued and luckily the buildings next door came up for sale and we were able to move Jayson Home, Artists Frame Service, Chicago Art Source and gallery 1871 to their present locations.
I have found 130 talented people who have embraced my father’s ethos of providing authentic customer service. We are proud to be serving our third generation of customers in our mission of finding wonderful items for your home.
Thank you, from all of us.
