Our Story
Orchard Lake Framing & Gallery is a family owned and operated custom
framing store and art gallery in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
In 1967 Gary
Pfeffer, founder, was a milkman just like his father before him. Gary earned a good living, but knew that the
trend was going away from having milk delivered, and felt he needed to find a
new career. So, in 1967 Gary and his
wife Patti took a leap of faith and opened La Art Carnival, a franchise store,
selling oil paintings from Europe.
Their store was located in Wilken’s Corner Mall, just south of Pontiac
Trail on Orchard Lake Road, in Orchard Lake, Michigan.
Gary and Patti ran La Art Carnival for approximately two
years. Soon they realized most people
were coming in looking for frames. At
first they would take the frames off the paintings they were selling and sell
them separately. Finally Gary and Patti
decided to drop the franchise. They
changed the name of the store to Orchard Lake Art Center and sold custom
framing and art supplies.
Through the
years Gary and Patti had all of their four girls working with them at one time
or another. It was truly a family
affair. The business also transformed
away from selling art supplies and focused more on limited edition prints and
custom framing.
After 12 years in Wilken’s Corner, Gary and Patti moved the
store to the Pine Lake Mall. In 1987,
with mall rent rates constantly increasing, Gary and Patty decided it was time
to move again. They purchased a lot in
Keego Harbor and built the building where we were located until the fall of
2004.
In 1999, after being in business for 32 years, Gary and
Patti decided it was time to retire. In the late summer they contacted one of
their old high school classmates, who was a commercial real estate agent, to
help them market and sell the business.
Ken Nolan, the son of another one of Gary and Patti’s high
school classmates, had known Gary and Patti all his life. As a matter of fact, Ken and his wife
Maureen were customers of Orchard Lake Art Center, and knew of its excellent
reputation. Ken was a perfusionist, and
department manager at Beaumont hospital; and Maureen was the Co-op Program
Manager for EDS’ North Central Region of the United States. Both the Nolan’s had good jobs, but were
looking for something more. Ken and
Maureen had been looking for a business for approximately five years. Not really knowing what kind of business
they wanted they looked at all kinds of options. In the late summer of 1999 Ken’s father told the couple about
Gary wanting to retire…their interest was peaked.
In August of 1999 Maureen took a week off from EDS and
worked with Gary at the store. Maureen
instantly fell in love with the business.
The Nolan’s officially took over Orchard Lake Art Center on October 1,
1999.
.
In the spring of 2001 Ken and Maureen changed the focus of
the gallery to original artwork by local artists. Ken and Maureen felt this could fill a niche in the area. The couple found artists by contacting local
art schools, attending art fairs, and word of mouth.
In January of 2002 Ken and Maureen changed the name of the
store to Orchard Lake Framing & Gallery to better reflect the business
offerings.
In the fall of 2004 the Nolan’s moved the store back to the
strip mall, now called Crosswinds. The
Nolan’s felt the new space, with it’s increased visability and foot traffic
would help them to grow the business.
The success of Orchard Lake Framing & Gallery is the
result of the great emphasis we place on customer service and friendly
atmosphere. We rely on enthusiastic,
intelligent individuals to further develop the tradition. We expect each employee to uphold our
standards and outstanding quality.
We hope you enjoyed "Our Story" and will visit us soon!
