National Art Shop changes, expands with times

When Jerry Sanders was growing up, he used to listen to his mother and aunt talk about how hard it was to find art supplies in Springfield. Years later, when Sanders began thinking about opening his own business, he discovered many area artists still couldn't find the art supplies they needed locally, so he decided to open National Art Shop.

Before opening the shop in 1970, Sanders met with Bob Johnson, then-curator of the Springfield Art Museum, and several art instructors at Southwest Missouri State University, who provided him with ideas about which art supplies and products he should carry.

Initially, National Art Shop was located midway between SMSU and the Springfield Art Museum, which allowed Sanders to attract students who were taking art classes at either location. Before long, however, artists from towns throughout southwest Missouri began frequenting the shop, as well as students from colleges and universities in Bolivar, Branson and Joplin.

By 1986 Sanders was ready to expand, and he relocated National Art Shop to 509 S. National Ave., which allowed him to quadruple the shop's floor space and significantly increase inventory. Shortly thereafter, Sanders' wife Jean began working full-time in the business. The two divided up duties at the store. Jean Sanders took over the shop's day-to-day operations, while Jerry Sanders handled the custom picture framing department, which accounts for approximately half of the shop's business.

Some of the custom framing work comes from commercial sources, as well as local interior design firms. According to the Sanderses, interior designers and individual artists alike favor National Art Shop because it offers more than 5,000 different framing styles. In addition, the shop has a computerized "virtual gallery" that customers can use, which contains more than 36,000 art and museum prints that can be searched by artist, category, subject or title.

"We really have three stores in one," said Jerry Sanders. "We do in-house custom picture framing. Of course, we always carry a large selection of fine art materials for the artist, commercial artist and graphic designer, including airbrush supplies, sign paints and brushes, drafting supplies, tools, tables and lamps, and a variety of instructional books. We also carry many items you would normally find in a museum store, such as artistic greeting cards, stationery and fine writing instruments, novelty rubber stamps and inks, old masters caf accessories and other gift items."

According to the Sanderses, having three diverse segments within the store has helped National Art Shop stay prosperous.

In recent years, commercial artists have started using computer software programs to generate much of the work they once did by hand, and the demand for some art supplies has diminished considerably.

In addition, several large craft stores have opened in Spring-field within the past five years. However, the Sanderses said they don't view these stores as direct competitors because they specialize in crafts and craft materials, not art supplies.

According to the Sanderses, knowing which art supplies to use for a particular project takes skill and training. Consequent-ly, most of National Art Shop's eight full-time employees have a background in art. In fact, several of the shop's employees are artists who have bachelor's degrees in art.

"Because our employees have a background in the arts, they are knowledgeable about art materials and their uses," Jerry Sanders said.

"Great customer service is what keeps people coming back, and many of our customers have been doing business with us since we opened," he added.

After 31 years in business, the Sanderses feel they have developed a good working formula for success, and they don't plan to change the status quo. However, they said they will continue to stock and carry the most up-to-date art supplies and picture frames available.

Currently, National Art Shop is open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.