Moving Ain’t Easy!

After ten years in one place, there is just a lot of stuff. One day, I had a U-Haul truck with two hired hands. We worked hard. Carrying glass from downstairs was probably the toughest thing. We stock a lot of different kinds of glass. Case after case of 32”x40” glass or larger weighing 60 pounds or more had to be packed up the stairs. After dozens of trips, your arms seem to be stretched to the snapping point. Weeks later they still feel that way.

How do you move more than a thousand feet of expensive moulding? We chose to do it with a large horse trailer laying it out carefully on the floor for the short two mile move. Handling it up and down the stairs over and over again was nearly beyond the call of duty. I am still getting it situated, but some things just take a lot of time to get situated.

The New Shop Is Ready!

A customer came in several weeks ago. “You’re sure hard to find”, she said. My response was, “You only need to find us one time”. Once you have done that one time find, it is so convenient, so easy to get to, so customer friendly once you have arrived and you park right out front. What else is there?  

  Everyone knows Campbell Street running north and south. Everyone knows Fairmont Street running east and west in front of Rapid City Regional Hospital. If you went to where those two streets meet in southeast Rapid City, we are just one block south on Oregon Street – 1212 Oregon Street to be exact. We are right next to Linn Productions and across the street from The Fence Connection. Street Electric, AAA Plumbing, Safe Haven Pet Resort and Rushmore Photo & Gifts are all nearby.

Parking, Parking, Parking!

  If there was one thing that was always troublesome about downtown, it was parking. That was and overwhelming criteria in the frame shop was to move and succeed. Our parking now is great! You pull right up to the front door, get out with your artwork and come on in! There aren’t even the massive parking lots at the big box stores or the malls to contend with! For very large projects we can even load or unload in our very own garage!

Back to Our Good Old Name

Late last century I started business as the Back Door Frame Shop. That’s how our “S Corp” was chartered and is the name the website – so it’s back to the Back Door! When we went downtown, it was to start the Gallery – the new West River Gallery. At that time we started doing business as the Black Hills Frame Shop –it seemed more traditional, more business like I guess.  

  If you were wondering where the rabbit comes from on all of our new signage, I used to have an uncle known as “Bunny” – Bunny Bunnell. Hence the Bunny comes into the picture. We also have a few bunny collectibles around the house and garden.    

Swan Song

The West River Gallery Located at 518 7^th Street in downtown Rapid City is now a thing of the past. Artists such as Nancy Bowman, Jenny Braig, Chris Budden, Richard DuBois, Barb Hallberg, Mick Harrison, Del Iron Cloud, Dennis Linn, Judy Lehner, John Lopez, Denton Lund, Bonnie Omang, Dave Paulley, Andrea Potts and Jim Yellowhawk were all a part of it. Most had receptions at the Gallery. The art displayed there has either been sold or is now a part of the virtual gallery on this website and still for view and for sale.

In February of 2001, the Back Door Frame Shop on West Main Street moved to downtown Rapid City. The plan was to add a nice sized art gallery in the heart of downtown. A wide cross section of framed art, ceramics and bronzes focusing on South Dakota’s West River artists was displayed and offered for sale. At that time, the custom frame shop grew and the Black Hills Frame Shop name was adopted.

The summer of 2001 held great promise for the arts in downtown. The First Friday Art Walk started. It was planned to run year round and was a big success. Two buses assisted visitors between Smatterings on West Main, the Dakota Rose Gallery on South Street, the Apex Gallery at the School of Mines, the Journey Museum, Prairie Edge Gallery, Perfect Hanging Gallery on Kansas City Street and the West River Gallery on 7^th Street in the heart of downtown. The gallery owners collaborated on this event with a variety of food, entertainment and receptions at each stop.

The attack on America at the World Trade Centers in New York City on September 11, 2001 and the ensuing stock market tumble for several years put an end to the vision of Friday Nights with the arts. Many of the galleries either closed or moved away.

  After many years of providing a venue for the arts and area artists, the West River Gallery has closed as well. In its place is the Tinder Box Cigar Store and Vino 100 Wine Store and Bar. We wish Dave, Eric and all of our other for the best.