Building on tradition: an historic frame shop enhances its 75-year reputation with modern-day management

Art Business News, March, 2002 by Maja Tarateta

When you enter the flagship J. Pocker & Son frame shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side, it feels like you've been invited into the Pocker family home. And that's just how the brother-and-sister team of Richard and Robyn Pocker, third-generation owners of the six-location frame shop and gallery, want it to feel. After closing the store's front door, you'll hear warm "hellos" from virtually every sales person, even those in the midst of helping others.

Robyn, who manages the store, wants customers to feel like they are not only in her home but in her living room. In keeping with this philosophy, she displays many mementos of the store's beginnings on the walls. Ask about the shop's early days, and she will proudly take down from the wall and hand to you an old, framed black-and-white photograph of her grandfather, Jacob, and father, Marvin, who was then only a boy, in front of the store when it opened 75 years ago on Lexington Avenue. She'll regale you with stories, like about how the words "11 Years with Greenwald" painted in script on the store's window in the photo refer to Jacob's time with a Brooklyn luggage maker/picture framer before he set out on his own, hocked his wife's engagement ring and opened the frame shop now known as J. Pocker & Son.

Any business that survives 75 years--and remains in the hands of one family--has reason to celebrate. It also likely has many stories to tell and success secrets to share. For the Pockers, both are true.

According to family history, Jacob and his wife, Bessie, crafted a framing business that catered to New York City's leading art clientele who often deferred to the couple's skill and taste. After their son, Marvin, returned home from Europe where he was serving in World War II, he continued the tradition while moving the shop two blocks north, to its current location on the tony corner of 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue, allowing for some expansion and the addition of a gallery.

The third generation of Pockers joined the store's payroll early in their lives, with Richard starting to work with his father at the age of 12. "My father was a workaholic," explained Robyn. "If you wanted to see Dad, you went to work." Although the siblings attended college (Richard graduated from Alfred University in 1974; his sister followed with a degree earned from American University in 1976), they started working at the frame shop the day following their diploma ceremonies. "A family business," smiled Robyn, "is like a golden handcuff."

Soon after, in 1977, the frame shop faced closure when New York City declared imminent domain to build a subway station on the corner. But the Pockers' customers, many of whom wielded political clout in the city, protested, and the shop was allowed to remain, but lost the front of the store and the basement. Before this, the retailing had been done on the ground floor, with manufacture completed in the basement and second floor. But with the basement gone and the groundfloor space much diminished, the Pockers were forced to relocate manufacturing to a remote location. So Richard moved about 20 miles away to Mamaroneck, N.Y., to oversee that portion of the business. Robyn remained in Manhattan to maintain the retail side.

Different Perspectives, One Goal

The division of responsibilities evolved thusly, with the help of a business consultant who enabled them to focus on specific areas and develop a more corporate structure. Today, this dynamic duo runs six successful frame shop and gallery locations with a remote manufacturing plant and plans to double in size within the next three to six years.

With duties divided, both brother and sister look at the business from slightly different perspectives. Each has their own reason for the frame shop's longevity and success, reflecting their respective responsibilities. "Our ability to efficiently turn out work with a full union shop is one of the reasons for our longevity," said Richard. "In fact, for approximately equal volume, we have about one-quarter the number of production employees of our closest competitor." Another reason? "Our refusal to use substandard materials in framing and our focus on `sticking to the knitting.' Any framer who tries to be everything to everybody is going to wind up making themselves crazy and poor. Sometimes, it's more profitable to turn away work that your factory is not suitable for."

"Our relationship with our customers is key to our longevity in the business," said Robyn, not disagreeing with her brother but presenting the perspective of one who spends most of her day on the sales floor. "We offer a quality product, but our reputation and attention to our customers is what has kept us in business. We create and sell flames. We don't just take orders. We're problem solvers. It is our responsibility and our pleasure to solve problems and make our customers feel we're taking care of them."

Robyn and Richard also have very different words of inspiration by which they run their portions of the business. A sign in the Manhattan store managed by Robyn reads, "Image is Everything." Above Richard's desk in Mamaroneck is a framed quotation from Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's. "If the competition were drowning," it reads, "I'd stick a hose down their throat."