Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Lerios.
Robin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 1981 I was given a camera by my new husband. I quickly learned that I had a natural gift. I began entering my photos in the county fair. To enter a photo it had to be mounted onto a 16 x 20 matboard. I went into the then York Gallery to choose the color that most heightened each photo. After a few years choosing mats the manager mentioned that I had a great eye for color and asked if I wanted a job. I explained that I was a mother so I already had a job.
I had my daughters in Soquel Co Op Nursery School and began being the school photographer. Another parent owned CC Color Lab and asked if I wanted to try photographing weddings for her. I did. Next she asked if I wanted to start framing for her? So I did that too. This was where Bay Photo Lab is at Branciforte and Soquel Avenues.
Years went by with my being a client and when I considered getting a job I ventured into the shop and said to that same manager, “Remember you asked me once if I wanted a job”? She looked back and said, “Did you see the ad in the paper this morning?” I replied that I don’t read papers. She went into the office and spoke with the founder, Jim York. Within ten minutes of speaking to him I was hired. This was in 1994.
There were multiple times in the next 18 years that the business was offered to me. Every time I was asked I repeated, “I am like a toddler, I like to do cartwheels, I don’t wear a watch, I cannot be a “boss”. But each time consulted my best friend of a mother, who has always been rather psychic, and each time she said, “no, it’s not time”. Jim finally sold the business to a friend, his grown daughter and daughter-in-law (as 3 partners). Things changed a lot under the new ownership and it was quite rocky at first! The climate was not as friendly. After about 7 years we had an electrical fire and due to the heartless landlords had to relinquish a section of the building as the rent was too high for us in the recuperative phase. Sadly, a car rental place went in on the front end of the building and we lost our street presence. By this time the daughter-in-law was home building a family and the patriarch never came in or offered help to the daughter left running the entire show. We had far less clientele, as many thought we had permanently closed. The finances were getting stretched thin and the daughter was paying the price emotionally. She had to ask for money from her father to run payroll twice a month. It was grim.
In August of 2012 she divulged that the business had been up for sale since January and if it did not sell by the end of the year they would close the doors. I was shocked! This was my, and my coworkers livelihood, what we loved to do, and how we paid our bills. We were all pretty dejected after that.
I had to get a root canal by a local endodontist, who was also a long standing client at the gallery. During my visit I told him that if he wanted to get anything framed he best do it by the end of the year because the business was closing. He looked at me and said, “No it won’t. You’re going to buy it and you’re going to move it, and make it work again. You are the heart and soul of it anyway.” He was also a Peruvian Shaman and, as such, spoke this declaration with conviction. I talked it over with my always supportive husband and when I broached the subject with my mother she quietly said, “I think it’s time”. I returned to the dentist and asked, “as a successful businessman, not a Shaman, how can this work so as not to risk the retirement my husband and I have set up with his Correctional Officer career?” He explained what an S-Corp is and promised to help me.
I bought the business for a song as it was severely in the red. Then I had to move it as the current location was no bueno!
I took my daughter, Adrian Plate, with me to meet a local realtor who had found a location. We had lunch across the street, at the Buttery, before the meeting. As we neared the time to meet the realtor my daughter asked, “Do you realized what has happened here? We have hardly said a word to each other as most people that have come through that door have known you Mom! You belong on this corner!” I was amazed as it was indeed a familiar corner as we were at Branciforte and Soquel Avenues, across the street from where I framed in 1990! It was perfect, (and we have a lovely landlord)!
One of the clients owned a truck/moving company and traded with me to move the business.
The Shaman came with me to do ceremonies to cleanse the bad vibes out of all the belongings as well as to bless everything in its’ new start. On the night of a full moon about 35 people came to the gallery for our Despacho Ceremony. They breathed their good intentions and promised support into my new endeavor. For this new life of a business.
After that it was pure resuscitation! I was nervous and ill prepared to be a business owner so I relied on loving folks to help me learn the nuances that I was unfamiliar with. I was patient with myself and surrounded by my loving family, employees, & friends started learning how to be a “Boss”. I needed to shed my preconceived notion of what I thought that meant. I reached out to as many clients as I could letting them know that the gallery was back and that I was going to run it as Jim and Connie York had done. That it would once again be a happy place to get art framed.
I had consulted with Jim York when deciding to buy the business and as I was taking on so much with the business side of it I considered letting go of the partnership with the Wharf to Wharf Race committee in creating a poster each year. Jim said, “Don’t let it go. It is a link to your community! It is how you can give back.” He was right! I love being a collaborative force in the creation each year with a new artist.
I hired Kelly Lake the day I bought the place and she is still with me and has grown into a master framer! Anthony Villano found his way into the shop 9 years ago and is an anchor in all aspects. My daughter, Sophia Lerios, worked ten years by my side helping me to learn how to elevate my business in so many ways and just recently began devoting all her time to her budding real estate business.
And these days, as I am nearing 69 years old, I am often asked, “Robin, when are you going to retire”? My reply, “When I find something that I like to do as much as this! Then I’ll retire and probably do this as a hobby!”
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a professional photographer although I cannot spend much time on this anymore while running my shop. I photographed weddings for 6 years and now sell my cards in the gallery. I was given a gift of seeing life in artistic vignettes that I capture through a lens.
These days I consider my main art form my gift of framing. I am an excellent designer in this facet of my job. Colors, attitudes, clients needs and desires all go into choosing from my immense stock of samples that line the walls of my gallery. I can frame the same piece of art multiple ways to suit different individuals. I see each as a fun challenge. And the unveiling, at the end of the wait to get it finished, is so gratifying!
Collaborating with an artist each year to create a new poster for the Wharf to Wharf race is an artistic challenge. The race is a mere 6 miles and has had a poster representing the race for 39 years!
I am most proud of my daughters. They are funny and smart women who I am lucky enough to call my best friends.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I do feel blessed.
Blessed that I walked into the gallery on the day the ad for a framer was put into the papers.
Blessed to have grown up with my single mother who was a dress designer and taught me about color theory. She taught me to appreciate beauty and design. We were very poor so she took my brother and me to the beach almost every day. The beach was free and belonged to everyone equally!
Blessed to have met my wonderful husband when I worked at Ferrell’s Original Donut Shop in 1980.
Blessed to have been a part of so many people’s lives through this avenue of work. I have gained some loving friendships through my clientele that will last a lifetime.
Pricing:
- I do not fish for the information but every year we will have a client come through searching for pricing throughout the local galleries. Most times they return and confirm that we have the best prices for the quality workmanship we produce.
- I believe that everyone deserves to have art on their walls. In this way we can help our clients with a less full pocketbook with a cut mat, a ready made frame, and instructions on how to do it yourself.
- We create the Wharf to Wharf poster every year and sell the prints for $35 and $60 for the limited edition, signed prints.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yorkframinggallery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/YorkFramingGallery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YorkFramingGallery
