Making the holidays merrier: 'tis the season for chaos in many a frame shop. But framers who plan ahead give themselves the gift of time for the holidays to make them festive, not frantic, come New Year's Eve

Art Business News, Sept, 2002 by Tricia Bisoux

"It is the best of times, it is the worst of times." Many a framer might paraphrase Charles Dickens' famous opener to A Tale of Two Cities to describe the hectic holiday rush. The extra business during the holidays means more profit, but it also means 14-hour days in the frame shop, demanding customers at the counter and a quickly vanishing supply of aspirin in the desk.

But the holidays don't have to leave a framer frazzled or frenzied. In fact, some framers look ahead to the holidays with anticipation, not dread, simply because they took sanity-saving steps throughout the year to give themselves more time and fewer headaches come December.

FBN asked several framers about their best strategies for managing the boom in holiday business, via interviews and the Picture Framers Grumble message board (www.thegrumble.com). Whether you want ideas for a few quick timesavers to put in place for the upcoming season or a long-term strategy as you plan ahead for the next, their advice can help any retail framer navigate the holiday onslaught with ease.

Step 1: Get Organized!

For many framers, Jan. 2 is the first day of their planning cycle for the next holiday season. They take stock of the previous few months and ask themselves what inventory was most popular, what tasks went undone, what ran out and what went wrong. Such an evaluation of your shop's past performance is the first step toward planning well for the next big rush.

For Barb Pelton of Artfully Framed in Poplar Bluff, Mo., these efforts intensify in spring and summer. "The end of June is my `mid-year evaluation' for the store," said Pelton. "I get all the numbers together and go over them with my accountant so I have an accurate picture of what I can do financially."

Spring and summer is the perfect time to regroup with the holidays in mind, agreed Sherry Gray, a framer from Hillsborough, N.C. "During the summer months, I stock up on length moulding, dean the shop, make room for all the December work, finish any projects for the showroom and finalize the copy for my holiday mailings," said Gray.

Step 2: Check Equipment

Keeping equipment maintained is important for a frame shop any time of the year, but an end-of-year breakdown can mean a meltdown in the production room. Therefore, the often-quieter summer months are the perfect time to do routine maintenance on equipment to avoid a broken table saw or malfunctioning matcutter at crunch time, suggested these framers.

And while most tax advisers recommend buying new equipment before the year's end, don't wait until tax season is on the horizon to think about a new computerized matcutter. Plan to buy new equipment before September so staff members can be trained to use it before the holiday rush.

"Don't skimp on equipment. Buy the best equipment and tools you can afford," advised Wayne Morris of Kingston Frameworks Ltd. in Kingston, Ontario. Inexpensive equipment doesn't save money if it leads to decreased production when it counts.

Step 3: Hire Employees in Advance

The summer is also a time to evaluate your staffing needs. If you plan to add a new employee, it's important to make sure all new hires are trained and ready to contribute to your shop's operation before November rolls around.

Edith Antl of Art Etc. Picture Framing in Cleveland noted that some of her most chaotic seasons came about because she was long on orders and short on staff. "The hardest holiday seasons have always had to do with not having enough employees or having mediocre employees," she said. "This inevitably led to me working way too many hours."

"We really try to make sure our staffing is such that we're ready long before the holiday rush," agreed Morris of Kingston Frameworks Ltd. "If we need a new staff member, we hire them before September to make sure they're trained and in place. We never do any specific hiring for Christmas--we try to maintain a staff of students who work part-time so that they can come in during the busy season."

High school and college students, if they have been well-trained in advance, can be the perfect holiday help, he added. Just as the season heats up in mid-December, they are finished with exams and ready to work.

Step 4: Do the Busy Work Early

Making holiday decorations, designing signage and ads or planning other festive touches may seem like small jobs, but when you're busy, even the smallest task can seem monumental. Finish those small details for the holiday season during slower times of the year.

During slower "back-to-school" weeks in August, explained Pelton of Artfully Framed, she and her staff start framing winter- and holiday-themed prints. If there's extra time, she added, "I have the employees fill a box with `gift decorations' such as pre-made bows with hand-stamped gift cards--personal touches that look complicated." Then, when the shop is busy, "all we have to do is to grab these items out of the box and add them to the gift wrapping."

Step 4: Order Sufficient Inventory