Dean Gallery

I had an extremely bizarre and upsetting experience with this business today. My husband and I brought two oversize posters there to get an estimate for framing earlier in the week. We were helped by an older man who I believe to be Mr. Carver, the owner though he didn’t introduce himself. We looked at frames and discussed the fact that they would require over-​size mats which could be expensive. He gave us an estimate of $ 800 total without the matting and said he would get back to us about the actual cost. I specifically asked if this was the price, without mats, for both. He said it was. He may have misheard me or he misspoke. When he called the next day he told me that he had ordered mat samples but the cost would be $ 1400 for each piece. I told him I would need to talk to my husband about it but that might be more than we wanted to pay for poster framing. Today I left a message and thanked him for ordering the mat samples (which was not at our request) but said we weren’t ready to spend nearly $ 3000 at this time so I would stop by and get the posters.
I did go by to get our posters and Mr. Carver was clearly upset. He said apparently we didn’t think we had to spend any money for framing. He threw the rolled up posters at me and said «why don’t you shove it.» I asked him to repeat what he said as I could not really believe it and he repeated it loudly. He went on to say «I am sick of you people who come in and waste hours of my time and don’t want to pay.» When I pointed out the discrepancy in the price quotes he began yelling at me to get out. I left very shaken and upset. I would note that he spent perhaps 20 minutes with us at the store, we had left the pieces for an estimate, not for framing, he ultimately quoted a price four times his original quote (without matting) and I had told him in our phone conversation that my husband and I would be discussing the cost. However regardless of the situation this was a bizarre way for a business person in a service business to treat a potential client. I work in the court system and am familiar with outrageous behavior but this left me shaken. I subsequently went to Mitre Box framing on Washington and had a lovely experience with Sarah and ended up framing the posters for significantly less, with no threats or yelling.
I have never in 60 years had such an interaction with a retail service person. It was frightening.

I went to the Dean Gallery to get two over– and oddly-​sized posters framed in what’s called a Plastic Pac. Basically, they place your art on a thick foam board, edge it with a color border of your choice then shrink wrap the whole thing. I was a little hesitant at first to frame my posters this way, but the guy who helped me showed me some sample posters, and they were enough to quell any doubts I had. He was also super and fast, and within a matter of minutes he calculated the cost of framing two huge posters, helped me choose my frame, and received my payment. Now, if I were to get these 47×30 inch posters custom framed, I’m sure it would’ve cost me upward of $ 300 each, but with Plastic Pac, I only paid around $ 100 for two big posters. And, in less than 5 days, I got the call to pick-​up my shrink wrapped artwork, and they look AMAZING. The wrap is very taut and clean, so it doesn’t look like it’s wrapped in plastic (except for the occasional glisten when the light hits it). They put hanging thingies in the back for easy mounting, and it’s light as can be. Now I’ve got a beautiful huge artwork hanging behind my bed that’s more visually stunning than a nice headboard. I’m coming back to Dean Gallery for more PlasticPac’ing, for sure.

P introduced me to Dean Gallery a few years ago. I have to say it is the only place we have trusted our art work. They have a great selection of frames (even reasonable ones). They also have some cool art of display. We like it here.