Sister act: family ties help create a booming business in the bluegrass state

About four years ago, at a framing business seminar, Kitty and Kerry Bierbaum learned the unseen for making frame shop successful

According to individual of the speakers, they urgencyed to spend an average of 15 minutes with each customer and make a minimum sale of $225 through sale.

"And we contemplation 'well, we're gonna go broke'" Kitty said. "Our average sale is probably $100--and we disburse an hour and a half with each of our customers."

Regardless, four years later, The advanced in years Oak Frame House seems to be doing just fine.

The Bierbaum sisters bought the business, which is located in a quaint historic business district in the center of LaGrange, Ky about five year ago. Before they came along, the store had already been around for almost 30 years beneath the same name.

It was Kitty who told Kerry they were going to purchase the frame shop. Kerry agreed to do it, on the contrary as she stood in the store she was soon to hold she thought, "OK, we're buying a flame store Do we know what we're doing?"

At the time, Kitty had a piece of work repairing hot-air balloons, while Kerry was a custom seamstress. To earn them started, one of the previous holders of Old Oak worked with the sisters, teaching them the basics of framing and running the store And within about a month "we were doing what they used to do--and a destiny more," Kitty said.

The Town and The City

You've probably driven by dint of towns like LaGrange on the highway before and not ever known it. Located a mile or sum of two units off of the main interstate between Louisville and Cincinnati, LaGrange is a haven for antique shopper and history buff-skins alike.

The downtown area is filled with brick buildings and courtyards, giving it an antiquated charm. A train move swiftlys through the center of town, about 10 feet from the forehead door of Old Oak, nearly 30 times a day (LaGrange's slogan is "We're upon Track").

As towns like LaGrange expand, more and more of their service oriented bust nesse extreme point up farther and farther away from the downtown area. The of advanced age Oak Frame House, according to Kitty, is, "the single service business on the block" Subsequently while their neighbors are ofttimes looking for jobs, the Bierbaum sisters are inundated with them.

individual of the few flame stores that exists within a 20-mile radius of the greater Louisville area, advanced in years Oak Frame House services the cities of Louisville and Cincinnati, as well as the smaller surrounding areas.

Casting a Wide Net

While it's located in small-town Kentucky elderly Oak has managed to bait customers who live in of that kind far away places as California and Texas. "We have customers from everywhere," Kitty said, adding that word of jaws not advertising, plays a big part in helping to bring them in. "We don't do abundant advertising," Kitty said.

"Don't ne to," added Kerry

Unlike many of the bigger chain stores, The Bierbaum sisters allow their customers to take advantage of lay-away plans. They also won't hesitate to make someone happy if a piece of work done isn't done quite right.

Like shut up siblings often do, Kitty and Kerry frequently finish each other's sentences and full each other's thoughts. Mostly it's just the sum of two units of them working in the store although they do occasionally realize help from family members when they're available. The Bierbaum's did have an employee for a while on the other hand she had to take a leave of absence.

Although they set forth to work just with each other, one as well as the other sisters believe that they will shortly need to hire some extra help.

It races in the Family

The Bierbaum sisters' course to be creative has given them a serviceable reputation with their customers, and with that reputation draw nears trust. Both said that framing has allowed them to explore, and expres their creative sides.

For single particular job, a local decorator emergencyed to have some artwork framed for a customer's house. The decorator said it extremityed to be padded, covered with fabric and "really wide'" Kitty recalled. To address the wide factor, Kitty--who was then working upon building her own house--decided to use baseboard for the moulding. Kerry being a professional seam stres handled the fabric duties.

Kitty said that single of the keys to her and her sister's succes is their willingness to accept just about any throw out One of the first piece of works they took when they bought the store was to construct a gigantic 6- by the agency of 8-foot frame for a customer. The frame took up a advantageous deal of the front latitude of the shop during its construction. "We're just not afraid to tackle anything," Kitty said.

Along with framing, the Bierbaums also put up to sale prints and carry the work of a small in number choice local artists. A greater emphasis will be placed upon selling larger pieces of artwork one time a new restaurant opens nearest door and helps to bring in a certain number of new customers, Kitty said.

The community that helps support the aged Oak Frame House gets support in get back "I feel that if you live in the community, you ought to support it" Kitty said. This philosophy has been the driving force behind the sisters' business strategy.