Odd memento for framing? Or a photo? Creativity guides Hawthorne Gallery & Frame in Medford.

The Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop is 50 years old this year.

Nick Grudza has framed many things in the 40-plus years he has been in the framing business — things like flip flops, Boy Scout uniforms, walking canes, postcards, christening gowns, moths, baseball bats and, oh yes, photographs and artwork.

Most challenging? The customer who brought in a bear skull to frame.

"Of course, the mouth had to be open, and the teeth had to be shown," Grudza, owner of Medford's Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop, told 70and73.com in an interview.

The project took lots of time and thought, but it was completed.

Customers do not need to show up with such unusual items at Grudza's shop, 697 Stokes Road, to receive the level of attention that the bear skull received. Grudza said that every project receives that kind of mindfulness.

That might be one of the reasons his custom framing and wall-art shop has stayed afloat while eight similar stores in the nearby area have closed since Hawthorne Gallery and Frame Shop opened in 1973, he added.

Nick Grudza learned how to frame as a fall-back to construction layoffs. Instead, he has been framing all sorts of objets d'art and family memories for more than 40 years.

Another key to the business success may be the quality of customer service that he and his wife, Debbie Grudza, provide, even when a customer comes in with multiple items needing to be framed, Nick explained.

"If I take an order in and I tell you it's going to be done June 12, if there's an issue or problem, you'll know," he explained. "I'm not going to have you stop in on June 12 and say, 'Oh, guess what? It's not done.'"

A part-time worker helps Nick stick to production schedules as much as possible.

And Debbie also has been helping Nick run the shop since she retired in 2019 from a career in retail.

Customers are encouraged to take an active role in deciding how to frame the object they have deemed worthy of such treatment.

"You can go anywhere you want in here," he said of the shop. "They can get involved, too. It makes my job easier."

Added Debbie: "We have all price points," noting that they are willing to work with customers until a mutually acceptable product and price can be found.

Even so, Nick said, he sometimes experiences sleepless nights while working on customer projects.

"I can't go to a book and find out how to frame a moth, or how to frame a baseball bat," he said. "I have to be creative. I have to adapt. I have to improvise."

Once something is put on his table to be framed, Nick's job is to determine how to make it look good and the mechanics behind it to ensure the integrity and value of the object remain intact.

Debbie Grudza is retired from her retail job, so she now helps Nick run the shop.

Debbie and Nick, who live in Marlton after spending about the first 30 years of their lives in the Bucks County suburbs of Philadelphia, also felt that the loyalty of Medford and Medford-area residents has something to do with the shop's longevity.

"Medford people are extremely loyal people," Debbie said. "And they like to do business with local businesses."

Customers — some of whom are the children of customers who came in the early years — remained as loyal as possible during the pandemic and social-distancing requirements, Nick said.

Even so, he said, he had to dip into a savings account to stay open. Now that most business restrictions have been lifted, the number of customers has gone up too, he added.

Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop has been at several locations over the years, including a spot on Trading Post Way. In 1995, the shop moved next to the Heritage Building in Medlake Center. In 2004, the shop expanded to include the storefront next to it.

One side of the shop is an art gallery, while the other shows off the wide display of frames available, about two dozen samples of Grudza's work and his workspace.

As for Grudza, he started his own framing business in another part of New Jersey in 1982. Then, in 1984, a much younger Grudza took a close friend's advice and went (depending on the way one travels to the shop) slightly west.

"You're good at what you do," he recalls his friend telling him. "You do nice work. But you are never going to make it here. I was looking and I saw a place in Medford."

That's when Grudza assumed ownership of Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop. Just as Medford's population has increased since that time, the products available at the shop have also increased, he said.

Some less traditional items the shop has framed over the years.

"Framing is definitely not what it used to be," he said. "We used to have blacks and whites and mahogany and gold and we had them all kind of smushed together."

That changed in 2018, according to Nick.

The traditional frames have remained available, but other framing options such as Egyptian maple, bamboo and metals were added. Ultimately, Hawthorne Gallery and Frame Shop obtained access to about 3,500 mouldings to help customers choose the product they want for their much-loved item to be memorialized in.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the shop has been lauded by others in the business, Nick said.

"Sales reps come in, take pictures and say 'This is what frame shops should look like,'" he proudly said. "These men and women go all over the East Coast and see a lot of frame shops. And they don't have to say that."

The accolades started slightly more than 30 years ago, when Nick's father referred him to a family friend to learn the art of framing so Nick would have something to fall back on if he was laid off from his construction job.

Now, the future of the shop is the subject of a debate that frequently plays out in Grudza's head.

"Where do I see the business going?" he responded to a reporter's question. "It's a good question. I've been asking myself that because I just turned 65. Eventually, I'll be taking Social Security. Do I want to sell it? Or do I want to just cut back on the hours?"

Since Nick and Debbie's daughter has a career as a flight attendant, it is unlikely she will take over the business, Debbie added.

Although the exact course for the future remains uncertain, Nick says he will not sell Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop or turn over day-to-day operations to just anyone, citing a desire to maintain the standards he has spent a professional lifetime practicing and preaching.

IF YOU GO:

Hawthorne Gallery & Frame Shop is at 697 Stokes Road in Medford. The shop is open Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment. Its website is https://www.hawthornegallery.us/.

Fixtures is a regular feature of 70and73.com, celebrating the aspects of our suburban life that have become fixtures in our world. Often, they can be businesses. But not always. If you have a nominee, send it to [email protected].

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