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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
Sometimes it doesn't matter what circumstances you're in … you just know the time is right to start your own business. That's what happened for Charles Ware, founder of Photo Blue.
In 1932, just 30 days after the birth of his son, Reuel, and in the heart of the Great Depression, Charles opened a blueprint shop and called in Photo Blue. The original business consisted of blueprinting, photography and architectural and engineering supplies. As it evolved, the name changed to Reuel's Photo Blue, to better represent the family's involvement. By the 1950s, the Ware family had three shops — in Salt Lake City, Sandy and Holladay.
In 1961, Reuel and Dorothy Ware bought the company and changed the name to Reuel's Art and Frame. It's the name you still know them by today. Today, Reuel's Art and Frame provides upper-end art supplies, picture frames and has plenty of molding options for custom frames. They sell around 28,000 different products.
The business includes over 40 employees, some who've been there 30 plus years. Reuel's daughter, Terri, who has been working in the store since 1973, along with his son-in-law, Art Wynhof, are bringing the company into the third generation of family ownership. In 2012, they celebrate 80 years as a family-run business, a milestone only 10 percent of family-owned companies reach.
It hasn't all been smooth sailing. On December 7, 1975, the Congress Hotel burned down, just weeks before Christmas. It's where one of their shops was located at the time and meant the family lost everything in that building. Christmas orders, warehouse supplies — it was a disaster. Yet … their vendors banded together and brought them the support they needed to get by — so much, in fact, that they were able to reopen by January 10 in 1976.
As for the next 80 years? Well, leading the way are worldwide exports via web orders. Reuel's Art and Frame contributes mightily to Utah's thriving export business, the only state to double exports in five years with even greater goals in mind.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Reuel's Art and Frame with locations in Salt Lake City, Sandy and Holladay info@reuels.com www.reuels.com
