When Nyra Phillips, CPF, and Dave Combs first considered opening a
retail flame shop in Wahiawa, Hawaii, their primary mission was to clean
up–not in the sense of writing more orders than any other framer in
town, but literally to clean up the street where their future storefront
stood.
Renovating the rundown area became a far loftier goal than simply
starting a business. “Through their efforts, the husband-and-wife
team became the driving force behind the resurgence of Wilikina Drive as
a thriving retail community.
Their story begins in December 2004, when Phillips, who was running
the couple’s home-based picture framing operation, and Combs, a
military contractor, formulated a business concept to expand into retail
and open a Polynesian art gallery.
“It seemed a viable business model,” says Combs,
“because our framing could facilitate the expansion. The one thing
we were missing was a good location to market our ideas.”
The duo conducted an analysis of existing flame shops on the island
of Oahu to identify population centers with framing needs that
weren’t being adequately served. They determined the communities of
Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield and Wahiawa provided the best
potential opportunities. These military and middle-class communities
formed an apex of transportation and commuter routes on the northwest
portion of the island. All these routes merged at Wilikina Drive,
Wahiawa.
A vision of what could be
Wilikina Drive was once a thriving retail area catering to both
locals and military personnel; but through time, the street had fallen
into disrepair and the neighborhood developed a bad reputation.
The building housing the couple’s future shop was deserted
except for an adult video store and a tattoo parlor. Three other
storefronts were primarily havens for drug dealers and prostitutes.
Insufficient lighting encouraged their illegal activities. The homeless
lived in abandoned cars cluttering the street or in makeshift shanties
in a nearby park that was overgrown with weeds and filled with trash. No
one wanted to shop there anymore.
That was the down side. Phillips and Combs then discussed the
“what ifs.”
What if the street was well lighted, trash picked up, undesirables
relocated. If those things could be accomplished, Wilikina Drive was the
perfect location for a pair of retail stores complementing each other
and catering to the local market. The volume and diversity of drive-by
traffic was sufficient to support such a venture. The challenge would be
to entice potential customers to stop and visit the new stores.
In January 2005, Phillips and Combs leased three adjacent retail
spaces in the same vintage building, finally pushing out the illegal
drug trade conducted under the guise of legitimate businesses. The owner
of the shoe repair store, who ran a meth lab in the back of his shop,
was arrested and evicted. The owner of the bean bag store, who made ends
meet by selling “happy beans” inside the bags, closed up shop
after the ceiling collapsed. The owner of the tattoo parlor, who
continued to sell drugs from his shop even after Phillips and Combs
moved in, was finally evicted. On the Verge Custom Framing
(http://ift.tt/1wq5rub) assumed all three spaces.
“We spent 6 months renovating the building by ourselves,”
says Phillips, “hauling away truckloads of carpet, broken drywall
and old equipment, not to mention all the termite dust that fell from
the ceiling.”
They patched the walls; replaced the flooring with new carpet and
tiles; and installed a new ceiling, doors, cooling system, lighting and
fixtures. They also painted the exterior and put up new signage.
Without realizing it, the couple’s actions became a catalyst
for the other businesses and residents of Wilikina Drive to clean up
their section of the neighborhood. Some, however, remained skeptical.
“One day the person who delivered the mail warned us our shops
were too nice for the area,” says Combs. “He said, ‘These
people will break into your store anyway they can.’ On the other
hand, the people who lived and worked here thought a cleanup was long
overdue and welcomed the new activity on the street.”
Success is contagious
Phillips and Combs hired some of the homeless to sweep the street
and remove the trash. One very ambitious worker helped haul endless
loads of trash to the local dump. The couple also secured the
cooperation of their local law enforcement officials, who ticketed and
removed all abandoned vehicles from the street.
“The police were very supportive of any effort to improve the
climate on Wilikina Drive,” says Combs. “Once we proved we
were serious about cleaning up the neighborhood, they increased the
frequency of their patrols and responded immediately to any new calls to
help keep the street safe and inviting for potential customers.”
Once the trash was removed from the park, the county began to
regularly mow the grass and prune the trees. Then they repaved the road
in front of the stores. The combined effort of government agencies,
local businesses, and residents had begun to make a difference. Slowly a
change was occurring.
When their friends saw the progress Phillips and Combs had made,
they were excited about the potential to do business in the area. One
purchased the adult video store and removed it as an attraction. That
structure is being renovated and will soon house a fine koa furniture
store. The other retail spaces in the neighborhood now include a barber
shop, beauty salon, Thai grocery store, computer repair shop, and
military surplus clothing store.
Next to On the Verge Custom Framing, Phillips and Combs opened a
coffee shop and prepared a space for a Polynesian art gallery. Phillips
had already established a reputation as a leading preservation framer
through her home-based business, and those clients followed her to the
new location.
“One of the nicest things about Hawaii,” she says,
“is customers will drive to wherever you are if you have a product
they like.”
Still, it was some time before Phillips and Combs found their
niche.
“We opened a nice store in a previously low-income
neighborhood, but the local population seemed apprehensive and
wouldn’t come,” explains Combs. “Neither would the
middle-class shoppers from nearby Mililani Town, because they
couldn’t shake the impression the area was too seedy. It was a bit
of a paradox.”
Eventually, the cornerstone of clientele on Wilikina Drive became
the men and women stationed at the nearby Army bases. They were neither
put off by the neighborhood’s former reputation nor intimidated by
its newly respectable appearance. As these customers spread the word
about the renovated business district, other shops on Wilikina Drive
began to draw patrons from the surrounding communities.
In step with the military
With her husband away on assignment much of the time, Phillips
ultimately decided to temporarily shelve her plans for a gallery and
concentrate on her core framing business. In January of this year, the
couple subleased two of the retail spaces to reputable companies–the
largest tattoo parlor chain on the island and a shoe repair
business–both with well-established clientele. The tattoo parlor in
particular has been a big draw for military traffic.
Running the business by herself means Phillips has to cover both
sales and production areas. As a result, the store is open just 4 hours
per day, 5 days per week, or by appointment. Those are the posted hours;
but Phillips typically is at the shop, making frames or doing paperwork,
throughout the regular business day. No one is ever turned away.
“I spend as much time with my customers as needed,” she
says.
Military framing accounts for approximately 50 percent of the shop
revenue. Phillips and Combs have cultivated a staunchly loyal following
among these service men and women, in large part because they understand
their clients’ needs. Combs spent 20 years as a U.S. Army Airborne
Ranger. (See www.rangercombs.com for a history of his service.) In
addition to all she’s learned as a military spouse, Phillips spent
2 years taking Reserve Officer Training Corp. (ROTC) instruction and got
her start in the framing industry working for shops that cater to the
military.
She enjoys the tradition and precision of military framing, she
says, the way the pieces in a frame must be laid out in relation to each
other according to protocol. “With the war in Iraq, many projects
we’re doing have so much more meaning,” she says. She’s
framed many items in memory of those who have fallen in battle. “We
want to do honor to these soldiers.”
Although conservation framing is always the rule at On the Verge,
Phillips also understands military framing is, by definition,
“budget minded.” Still, she spends as much time in the design
phase for these orders as she does with customers who come in looking
for a “showy” presentation.
What military framing lacks in the “wow” factor, she
says, it makes up for in consistency. Every military unit maintains a
“Continuity Book,” which details everything they need to know,
including when to give service awards and certificates, and where to
have those items framed. This how-to book is handed down from one
officer to another.
“Once you’ve proven yourself as a framer, they’ll
continue to use your services,” Phillips explains.
Not all the framing done at On the Verge is standard military
issue. Phillips gets creative in the woodworking shop, making solid wood
frames from native Hawaiian koa and monkeypod, and indulges her wild
side designing frames with specialty mat cuts for events like Choppers
Only, an annual show and race for local bikers.
“My favorite framing is when I get to free flow,” says
Phillips. “The advantage of having dedicated clients is,
eventually, they’ll deliver artwork and leave the designs entirely
up to me.”
from Kauai i Hawaii Travel Tips http://ift.tt/1t1GscI
via Website Design Hawaii #hawaiiwedding
No comments:
Post a Comment