It's almost spring but it feels like a new year!

There's optimism in the air yet every time we read the front page of our local newspaper, listen to CNN or watch the evening news we are reminded of the tough economical conditions that we all have gone through over the last year. Some people say our country's troubles will extend into 2010. Everyone is feeling the pinch and some much more than others. We have felt the pinch. At certain times the pinch feels like a fist to the stomach.

Last week we worked really hard with one of our Bend clients to save her 25% ($112 saving using Redmond Downtown Dollars) on a $450 purchase, extended her a layaway program that went 4 months vs our standard 3 months. She really wants the artwork but in her own words ... “My mortgage company wouldn't appreciate me buying art before I catch up on my payments.” A hard objection to overcome. What do you say other than to acknowledge her situation and reinforce to her that we will be here when she is ready to make the purchase.

Later that rather slow afternoon we had visitors from Seattle that fell in love with a lovely blown glass vase by Kyle Kraiter along with a fine art print by Paul Alan Bennett. They decided to move forward with their purchase -- A new gallery client and some happy campers! In our discussions they too indicated that they are being impacted by the current economical conditions but they have set aside money by making cuts in other areas to continue their self proclaimed passion of collecting art.

The two customer interactions are typical of Central Oregon and our client base. Local Central Oregon residences and our out of area visitors. The largest industry in the area is tourism. And as a result, Central Oregon for the most part is filled with service type employment that is on the lower end of the pay schedule. However the cost of living and real estate in Central Oregon are both high as compared to other areas of the state and country. Most Central Oregonians live in Central Oregon because of the amenities, outdoor recreations and the cultural opportunities. Many of our locals visited Central Oregon, fell in love with the area and found a way to make it home. We all somehow make it work and we all will continue to make it work!

There is an old saying from the 1980's -- Central Oregon: Poverty with a view. Our local clients are being impacted by the recession and it is effecting their purchasing power. May this troubled time past quickly and as we start building back we hope it will be with a renewed perspective and maybe reevaluated priorities. Greed, overindulgence, dishonesty, and selfishness can be tossed in the garbage can.

What do you do?

Cristina Acosta, an artist that we represent has a very successful (and well written) blog. In a recent post, “How to keep working when sales drop,”  she suggest a number of ideas including “keep up with an exercise/sports routine.” Please take the time to explore Cristina's blog and her thoughts. She is working on new painting series that we should have in the gallery by late spring and we are really really excited to bring this great new series to our clients and visitors. Stay Tuned!

What's a business to do? What is High Desert Gallery doing?

Actually we are ahead of sales projections, happy with our recent promotions however business could be better.  Whether in a great or poor economy business can always be better yet we are thankful for our successes.   In 2009 we are getting back to the basics. Making sure that every marketing and business decision is rooted in past experience and has a track record of being successful. Getting back to the basics with each business decision made based on fulfilling one or more of the following criteria: 1) Lowering Expenses, 2) Increasing Margin, 3) Increasing Sales 4) Increased client retention and satisfaction. If our idea doesn't pass the smell or litmus test then it gets put on the back burner to simmer for another day.

We are experimenting less but we are also thinking outside of the box. We are looking for opportunities to promote the gallery and our artist's artwork more aggressively and at lower costs. We continue to look at collaborative marketing opportunities with organizations and like businesses. As an example we are teaming with Sisters Art Works on a May/June Event based on Oregon's 150 birthday, we are teaming with the Plein Air Painters of Oregon for a special show in October, Quilt Show week should be a blast with new features and some new fun, and the list goes on. We can't wait for our first “First Friday” reception and artist feature in our new Bend Gallery (opening summer 2009).  We have a number of great events planned for 2009 and we'll release our Gallery Guide and our complete events calendar in May 2009. You can view some of our events on our events calendar (www.events.highdesertgallery.com).  We continue to expand our Internet presence including our "Ask a Picture Framer" interface, our new mobile enabled site and the recent revamp of our highdesertgallery.tv site including the addition of Custom Picture Framing videos. Our online store and blog continue to increase in content and are excellent communication tools for our clients and visitors.

Historically and as is the case this winter and early spring we'll push hard to promote our very successful Custom Framing side of the business.  We continue to promote the framing business and are now enjoying a solid promotion that wraps up on March 20^th. If you want to participate in the savings and get award winning frame designs then please visit: No Better Value. The promotion has been extended until March 20^th although the downtown dollars are very limited. We'll have some more fun planned for this spring and to get a jump on our offers we would suggest that you subscribe to our blog by visiting: Subscribe to HDG Blog.

We get this question all the time: Is the economy hurting your business? Depending on how we feel at any giving time our response might be a matter of fact, “Yes but we are a solid business” or if in a frisky mood we might respond by saying – “ Why yes as we don't resole shoes and we're  not a pawn shop!” Regardless of our response we reassure our clients and visitors and let them know that we will all get through this mess. We've been through it before in our 25 plus years in the industry, although this one feels different. If feels different because in past years we were young and stupid and we just pushed through “them.”

We'll push through this one too but it will take business savvy, dedication, support of our clients, collectors, visitors, Chambers, Visitor Centers, our great staff , neighbors and our wonderful artists. For all of us to navigate through this mess we will need to support each other. Whether it's buying that work of art from High Desert Gallery, getting the artwork in your closet framed or just coming to one of our events and enjoying the artist, music and wine. 

Please remember that when you support any gallery including High Desert Gallery it impacts multiple local people and businesses. The artist is compensated nicely, we purchase more artwork, we hire more staff, support our local office supply store, donate money to music and arts programs, pay taxes, buy adverting from local newsprint, radio and TV and the list goes on and on and on. It all starts with a deliberate and conscience effort from each of us.

Every day is a great day to buy locally produced Fine Art! Make today a great day!

Cheers and we'll see you soon -- Online or at one of our two galleries!

Myrna and Todd
www.highdesertgallery.com
1-866-549-6250

Comments

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