Shanks finds profit in art
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 18, 2010
HOUSTON —
Louis Shank of Texas has taken art — a category often ignored or at least underplayed by furniture stores — and turned it into a real moneymaker.
In April 2007, the Austin-based Top 100 company took 4,000 square feet in its Fondren Road showroom in Houston and turned it into an art gallery. At the time, it was an unproductive space at the back of the store. Ian Cruickshank, owner of Houston's Renaissance Art Associates, which supplies all of Shanks' art and mans the gallery, called it “the graveyard.”
“Which, for me, was cool,” he added. “I wanted it to be a destination and a find in itself.”
The art gallery was a find all right, not just for customers, but for Louis Shanks. Before the gallery was installed, the upscale, four-store Texas retailer was doing about $250,000 in annual oil painting sales. Now the Fondren store alone does $750,000 in oils, and the four combined Shanks stores do more than $1 million.
“And it's a very healthy margin, too,” said Mike Forwood, Shanks' president.
Shanks is building a similar, but smaller, gallery at its San Antonio store and has opened gallery “pods” in its other Houston store and flagship Austin showroom. The pods are along the lines of a space within the Fondren gallery — featuring a comfortable sitting area, computer and big-screen monitor. The computer links to Renaissance Art's arthub.com Web site, featuring more than 30,000 paintings created by artists from across the world.
Both Forward and his father, CEO Amor Forwood, said that since the gallery was launched, Shanks has been selling increasing numbers of better quality, higher ticket paintings. Most oils sell in the $500 to $3,000 range, but Shanks also is selling some for $5,000 and up, including the occasional $15,000 to $30,000 piece.
To help promote the category, the store hosts special exhibits almost every month, serving wine and cheese for guests.
The Fondren gallery also has 30 frames on display that customers can choose for any painting or mirror they buy — and the work is completed in two days, said Amor Forwood. If the customer likes a particular painting but the colors in the piece don't fit in with her room, Renaissance can customize the work.
And that's not all that can be customized. Customers also can submit photos of a family member or pet and have those turned into an oil painting on canvas.
Shanks' interior designers have good reasons to make the gallery a favorite stop with clients, too, including the opportunity to earn commissions of up to 30%.
Cruickshank said a lot of industry salespeople tend to ignore the category because they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with art. The Shanks gallery, staffed with a specialist, aims to overcome that resistance and build a category salespeople can go after. Otherwise, he said, “they're just leaving money on the table.”
For more coverage, visit www.furnituretoday.com.
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