Dive Brief:
- Direct-to-consumer framing retailer Framebridge on Saturday opened a brick-and-mortar store in Austin, Texas, its first in the Lone Star State.
- Located in Central Austin at 1601 West 38th Street, the store represents the brand’s 23rd retail location since opening its first store in 2019 in Washington, D.C., where the company is headquartered.
- Framebridge is planning to open additional stores across Texas this year and next year, including a Dallas location at Inwood Village — set to open July 27 — and a Houston location. Framebridge also plans to open new stores in Summit, New Jersey; New Canaan and Westport, Connecticut; and in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Dive Insight:
Framebridge, which began as a digitally native brand focused on custom framing, has accelerated its pace of opening brick-and-mortar locations. Austin was a natural fit for the brand to open a retail store, according to the company.
"Texans are known for their Texas pride, which we've been framing online for years. Austin was our dream first city when we started looking at Texas for our stores. The people of Austin are as dynamic and interesting as the city they live in — with its legendary live music scene, delicious restaurants, and start-up scene, we can't wait to see what Austin will bring in store to frame,” Susan Tynan, founder of Framebridge, said in a statement.
Framebridge started in 2014 with an investment of $1.25 million from New Enterprise Associates; Steve Case, co-founder of AOL; and Tim O'Shaughnessy, co-founder and former CEO of LivingSocial. Since then the brand has raised over $82 million through seven funding rounds, per Crunchbase.
As part of its initial launch, the Framebridge business model gave customers the ability to ship artwork free or upload a photo from their computer, iPhone or Instagram feed. It offered prices that it said were 50% to 70% less than traditional retail framing stores.
Framebridge is part of a growing number of DTC brands that are venturing further into physical retail as a way to increase their customer base and embrace a hybrid selling model. Brands that have opened stores in recent months include Vuori in New York, Rhone in Boston and Wilson at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
The online picture-framing market is robust and growing steadily, per a recent study by Market Growth Reports. According to the 2023 report, the market size was valued at $1.4 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach about $2.7 billion by 2028.
