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South Street - “Frame It”
Frame It
2 South Street
Rochford, Essex,
SS4 1BQ
01702 531025 or 07799 894868
e-mail: frame-it@live.co.uk
2 South Street
Rochford, Essex,
SS4 1BQ
01702 531025 or 07799 894868
e-
Opening Times:
Mon to Sat 9.30 – 5.30
Wed 10.30 – 2.30
Talking with Andy Gregory of “Frame It” (22nd November 2010)
Rochford Life: Andy, how long have you been here in Rochford?
Andy: We’ve been here since February of this year. We used to be in York Road Market until all that was closed down. We had been there twenty five years. It was my Uncle’s business before. I’ve been doing it for about three years now but I’d been helping my Uncle for many years before that. He’d built up such a good reputation that people tend to find where we are because it’s that sort of business where people will find you out and come to you, and Rochford’s a good location with easy access from Southend, Rayleigh, Hockley and so on. It was a shame we had to move but, it’s worked out all right.
RL: Tell me about framing. If I have a picture will you advise me? How do I decide what sort of frame,
Andy: Yes. You have to realise every picture is different. There are so many options for frames; there are thousands of mouldings to choose from. There are lots of different colour schemes, or there are the borders that go round the outside but it all depends on the specific picture really. Some people come in with a specific frame in mind because they want to match up with their furniture and other times people will leave it down to us completely and leave it to our judgment as to what would suit it.
RL: You say there are thousands of mouldings. How do you know what to keep in, or do you have catalogues that you steer people to?
Andy: We keep in stock a specific number of frames which tend to be the popular ones we use. Obviously frames are changing all the time but the range we keep is a big range and well used by us. There are a lot of mass produced frames done in poly-core but we tend to use just wood because to ensure quality we want better control.
RL: How does someone work out a price for their frame?
Andy: Well our prices can be as low as five pounds, but of course it really does depend on the size. However, we would say that we are probably the most reasonably priced out of the whole of Essex really for framing, and I’m sure some of our frames are half the price of elsewhere. It’s still good quality, you don’t lose that because of the price. If people call us we can give them a price. It depends on the picture really. If it’s just a standard photo there’s not much work to do but if it is fabrics or shirts being framed then there’s a lot more to it. For example we frame a lot of football shirts. Someone even brought in her husband’s cub’s scout uniform which was about sixty years old, so a miniature basically, and we framed that – the jumper, the shorts, everything in one frame. You can frame virtually anything
RL: If I bought a picture in today, what sort of turnaround time would it be?
Andy: Within the hour! Assuming we’ve got it in stock that is. What we’ve got on the wall is what we keep in stock. If it’s in stock then it’s literally in the same day.
RL: Looking around the shop you have a lot of pictures on display. Do you have a particular artist that you display?
Andy: No we have different artists really, quite lot of local artists. At the moment we have a lot of stuff from Phil Newman who does a lot of prints but there others as well.
RL: Well OK, thanks Andy, that’s been very helpful.
Rochford Life: Andy, how long have you been here in Rochford?
Andy: We’ve been here since February of this year. We used to be in York Road Market until all that was closed down. We had been there twenty five years. It was my Uncle’s business before. I’ve been doing it for about three years now but I’d been helping my Uncle for many years before that. He’d built up such a good reputation that people tend to find where we are because it’s that sort of business where people will find you out and come to you, and Rochford’s a good location with easy access from Southend, Rayleigh, Hockley and so on. It was a shame we had to move but, it’s worked out all right.
RL: Tell me about framing. If I have a picture will you advise me? How do I decide what sort of frame,
Andy: Yes. You have to realise every picture is different. There are so many options for frames; there are thousands of mouldings to choose from. There are lots of different colour schemes, or there are the borders that go round the outside but it all depends on the specific picture really. Some people come in with a specific frame in mind because they want to match up with their furniture and other times people will leave it down to us completely and leave it to our judgment as to what would suit it.
RL: You say there are thousands of mouldings. How do you know what to keep in, or do you have catalogues that you steer people to?
Andy: We keep in stock a specific number of frames which tend to be the popular ones we use. Obviously frames are changing all the time but the range we keep is a big range and well used by us. There are a lot of mass produced frames done in poly-
RL: How does someone work out a price for their frame?
Andy: Well our prices can be as low as five pounds, but of course it really does depend on the size. However, we would say that we are probably the most reasonably priced out of the whole of Essex really for framing, and I’m sure some of our frames are half the price of elsewhere. It’s still good quality, you don’t lose that because of the price. If people call us we can give them a price. It depends on the picture really. If it’s just a standard photo there’s not much work to do but if it is fabrics or shirts being framed then there’s a lot more to it. For example we frame a lot of football shirts. Someone even brought in her husband’s cub’s scout uniform which was about sixty years old, so a miniature basically, and we framed that – the jumper, the shorts, everything in one frame. You can frame virtually anything
RL: If I bought a picture in today, what sort of turnaround time would it be?
Andy: Within the hour! Assuming we’ve got it in stock that is. What we’ve got on the wall is what we keep in stock. If it’s in stock then it’s literally in the same day.
RL: Looking around the shop you have a lot of pictures on display. Do you have a particular artist that you display?
Andy: No we have different artists really, quite lot of local artists. At the moment we have a lot of stuff from Phil Newman who does a lot of prints but there others as well.
RL: Well OK, thanks Andy, that’s been very helpful.
No longer in Rochford