Tony Mines may have created Chattanooga's largest art and frame business with his latest acquisition, a $1.15 million purchase of a 13,000-square-foot retail building off Gunbarrel Road.
The former Ethan Allen building, which has stood vacant for years, will effectively triple Mines' retail space, which includes an existing 6,500-square-foot Art Creations store on Frazier Avenue.
"We wanted to do this three years ago, and put it on hold because of the economy at that time," Mines said. Now, he's "excited about the new payroll dollars turning over in the area" due to the arrival of industry giants like Volkswagen, Amazon and Wacker.
"We're going to see more teeth cleaned, more hamburgers bought and more frames purchased," he said.
He tentatively plans to open the new Art Creations store in early July, and will hire 10 people to run the new store.
David DeVaney, president of NAI Charter, said that the property was owned by Cornerstone Bank at the time Mines bought it, one of many foreclosed properties across the region that buyers have been able to snap up for less than the cost of erecting the structure.
"The building cost $2.6 million eight to nine years ago, so we feel like we got a great deal," Mines said.
Mines plans to offer art classes and materials and a wholesale section for interior designers, photographers and artists to set up custom work.
"We'll have everything from $5.50 cocktail napkins up to a couple hundred dollars for a nice piece of French pottery," he said.
Besides art, new technology will be on display. A framing computer program will output to a large screen, which will simulate how a particular frame, mat and photo will look on a customer's wall, he said.
A third generation auto-mat cutting device will do the heavy lifting of the framing process in a fraction of the time it takes a person.
Mines says he's stayed competitive since 1973 by doing in-house what the big box stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby outsource, he said.
"When the big box stores have their 50 percent off sales, that's our price every day," he said.
Mines represents his family's second generation in the art supplies business. He plans eventually to hand the business off to his son and daughter, he said.