The Great Frame Up

Great service and great prices. I was helped by an employee named Luke. He took care of all my requests and went above and beyond with service and quality. I highly recommend this store for all framing needs.

I like the Great Frame-​Up — they do a great job, have always helped me select good frames and glass and mats for my pictures and jobs, and are very helpful. I trust their taste. I also had an antique piece re-​done here, part of which had been eroded, and when they were done, you couldn’t even tell that it ever had been damaged — it was fantastic.

I’ve had a number of pictures framed here. They even stood by a frame that they repaired but that I hadn’t purchased there. Fabulous service!!! I will continue to return here.

Had two pieces framed here recently. Staff was knowledgable and very up front on cost, materials, and time estimates. Both pieces were completed exactly when they said they would, and look great. This place is a great value, will be coming back.

I’ve had one print framed here before and it turned out really well. Unfortunately, the person who assisted me is no longer working there. This time I was helped by a bored, listless, and uninformed individual. Toward the end of our interaction he became down right rude and snapped at me. He apologized and asked if I wanted to work with the manager. The manager was only slightly better. When I told him what happened his response was «weird.» I really don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars to work with people who act like disaffected teenagers and seem to know next to nothing about framing.

The Great Frame Up is a place to go either you need someone to take care of your art or if you are hands on and just need a little assistance. I have been coming back to this place for years and everyone is always very friendly and helpful.
Just recently Cass and Cato both helped me to put together a project by stretching canvas. I would highly recommend this place. Thank you for your exceptional customer service!

If you like poorly built frames supported by an indifferent and bewildered staff then THIS is the place to go.
If you are hoping for accountability or a quality built frame, then go ANY PLACE else.

I am writing to thank Cato for some creative framery. We had a 25+ year old frame which lost a piece, and neither the frame nor the missing piece was replaceable. He was able to use alternative materials in a creative way to replace the missing piece so that it looks as good as it did before. Thanks Cato for the extra effort!

I moved to a new home and hung my framed artwork on the walls by myself. I, stupidly, did not realize that I should have had a handyman anchor the nails in the walls. The first night, 5 pictures went crashing to the floor. All the glass was broken, the frames were askew – it was a mess! I took everything to the Great Frame Up on Elm and they were FANTASTIC! I did not do the work myself, I had them do it. They had everything all cleaned up and fixed within a week. They are fabulous and I highly recommend them.

Okay saw the ratings here and was really skeptical. But given the fortune of my supreme laziness yesterday, this frame shop was the closest one so I figured I’d give it a shot.
I was looking to frame a map — had the frame and map but all the other stuff was missing. I feared it would cost me a fortune. I called first — Cato answered — and told him a was working with a pretty small budget. To my surprise, his quote came in well under my number. When I got there Cato was helping someone else, so Cass gave me hand.
True to their promise — not only could they do it within the budget I had (I hate the bait-​and-​switch common here in Chicago), but Cass said he could get it done in the next 24 hours (he mentioned the normal turnaround is 10 days) which was important to me because I wanted to surprise my wife once she gets back in town tonight.
In the end, I saved a boatload of time and money — and the framed map looks great. Also, given how reasonably priced their glass is, I’ll be bringing a lot of other paintings in in the next week.
I’m guessing given the 2-​stars for this location the owners have put some thought into customer service, etc., because these guys didn’t disappoint.

Too much staff turnover, new people not as good. Went in with a print. Dealt with one guy I never saw before who seemed a complete idiot. The other guy seemed more competent but sorry to say his accented speech was incomprehensible to me. The artist who did my framing in past is gone and so is the longtime manager. Seems a complete mess. Trying someone new.

I had a large fine art photo framed by this store a year ago, on a groupon. This should not have been a hard framing project — it was black frame and white matte for a large b/​w photo — but now I wish I had gone ANYWHERE else for the job. When I unwrapped the final product at home, there was a 3-​ft-​long piece of adhesive on the glass. The adhesive had dried and was highly visible on the black and white photo, and I had a lot of trouble getting the adhesive off of the glass — I’m not a professional, which is why I thought to trust a professional framer to frame my art. In the end, I damaged the glass while attempting to wipe off the adhesive. When I have time, I’ll need to reframe this piece of artwork somewhere else.

Horrible customer service! I tried calling this location at 7:20 p.m. (not knowing they close at 7:30) to get a quick rough estimate on how much it would cost to frame a particular sized picture. The gentleman on the phone said to me that he is starting to close up… paused… then said we close at 7:30. He then tells me to call tomorrow and they could get me an estimated price. Confused by this, because I am a potential future customer looking to give them my money for a christmas present, I was not sure how to even respond to him. Without even being able to say another word, he then told me he is trying to finish up with a customer, he can not help me and then hung up.
Off to Hobby Lobby I go! Not even sure why I looked around for another place to get this framed. Hobby Lobby has done great work the three times I have used them in the past.

I went here off a Groupon — honestly, I want my several hundred dollars back. It’s kind of a neat experience (getting to frame your own stuff), but it seems to take forever and you have to take multiple trips to do it.
The whole experience seemed very drawn out and at the end of the day… it’s just a picture frame. Lower your prices!

It’s a little expensive, but definitely worth it. I got a couple prints beautifully framed and came in to put them together myself to save $ 40 ($ 20 a piece to have it matted and framed for you after you pick the frame). They have so many choices, I will definitely come back when I pick the right piece of art for my living room (and when I have a little more cash in my pocket).

The main guy who does the framing here is a great photographer but he and his staff are clearly overworked. They were really nice but totally botched my frame job two times! It was really simple– actually just some matting but for some reason they couldn’t get it right. I would say that if you have something really simple, give them a try just because they have a nice attitude but man– nothing complicated and no seriously valuable art!