U -Frame It

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At a time when the sign "will the last person to leave Seattle please turn off the lights" went up, Steve McDowell was a casualty of the big Boeing layoffs. It was 1972 and with no plans for what to do and a wife and daughter to support, he went with a longtime friend to have a look at an upstart business in Colorado. It looked busy enough and, at a time when people were enjoying baking their own bread, applying braiding to their swabys (yes, it's been done before) and macrameing their plant holders, "Do-It-Yourself" picture framing seemed a natural. It was the worst possible time to try a new business but, sometimes, ignorance is bliss.Steve went back to Burien, found a location and opened shop. At that time it was a relatively new concept so he learned right along with his customers, many who are still customers and friends today. Steve's motto was, and still is, "have people leave feeling as though they received even more than they expected". His loyalty to the customers coming in to frame at U-Frame-It has served him well. Thirty-two years later U-Frame-It consists of thirteen stores spanning from Federal Way to Bellingham on the west side and Factoria to Woodinville on the east.Oh, U-Frame-It has changed a little. Steve's long hair, beard and mustache are all gone. It seems everyone these days has so little time that the custom end of U-Frame-It has grown considerably and when you go in to frame a picture you can talk to a CPF (Certified Picture Framer). Machinery has replaced nailing for the most part but, if you want to clean the glass and put in a few screws, U-Frame-It can still have you out the door in about an hour.

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