Framing business a labour of love

Kathy Manzo walks into the framing store in downtown Kitchener carrying an oil painting that she wants to get framed.

She picks up another painting she had custom framed at King Framing, located on Ontario Street North.

“That is beautiful. I am thrilled to death,” Manzo says, as store owner Nick Sokolovic holds up the reframed painting she inherited from her mother.

Manzo is one of many customers who have been coming to the store regularly since it opened in 1978 at 322 King St. E. in downtown Kitchener.

“This store is an institution,” she says.

“I have second and third generations of families coming,” Sokolovic says. “I have a good reputation.”

Sokolovic got into the business through family ties.

His brother-in-law, Ibro Suljovic, owned the store when it opened in 1978. It was then called Universal Art Shop. The name later changed to King Framing because another business in Toronto operated as Universal Art Shop.

Sokolovic, now 61, emigrated from Yugoslavia when he was 16. He worked at a number of jobs locally, including a stint at automotive frame manufacturer Budd Automotive, and helped his brother-in-law when he was busy at the store.

He then took a course in custom framing at Conestoga College and worked part-time at the store.

“I enjoyed the work and I still do,” Sokolovic says. “It is not just for the money. It is for the pleasure of it.”

In 1987, his brother-in-law bought a motel in Collingwood and put the framing shop up for sale.

“The two of us went out for a drink, and I bought the business,” Sokolovic says. “He offered me a partnership. I refused the partnership. I said it is either yours or mine. I said I didn’t like partnerships. A partnership is a good way to lose a friend.”

In 1998, after 20 years of being located on King Street East., Sokolovic moved the business to its current location on Ontario Street, between King and Duke streets, because he needed more space.

He prides himself on providing quality work at a competitive price.

“My price is the best in the area. I don’t sacrifice quality. I buy in bulk so I can offer the savings. I make the money in volumes of sales, not in markups.”

Manzo says she keeps coming back because of the quality of the workmanship, the price is “great” and the personal service she receives from Sokolovic and his wife, Hanna, who has been working at the store for the past 15 years.

“My customers are like my friends,” says Sokolovic.

Grainne Aitken, a professional photographer who owns Art and Soul in Waterloo, says she brings a lot of family and wedding portraits to Sokolovic to frame.

“He works with us to create something unique,” she says. “The service and quality of work is just amazing.”