Every frame shop has a workbench. Not every frame shop has forty years of one on the same block.
From A&R Framemakers to Middle Village Frame Shoppe
In 1986, Anthony and Rosemary got married with a shared goal: run a business together. Rosemary’s background was in customer service and operations at Brooklyn Union Gas. Anthony had spent years as a salesman at an art gallery on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, where he picked up a real education in art and framing. Between the two skill sets, opening a frame shop made sense.
Two years — and plenty of sleepless nights — later, they did it. They named the shop A&R Framemakers, using the initials of their first names.
A Wholesale Shop That Became a Neighborhood Fixture
For the first decade, A&R Framemakers operated as a wholesale business, working behind the scenes while Anthony and Rosemary raised two kids. In 1998, they made the leap to retail, renaming the shop The Frame Depot to reflect a new mission: being a one-stop shop for the local community’s framing and art needs, not just wholesale clients.
That shift mattered. It meant walking in off the street, bringing in a project, and talking it through face-to-face — something a lot of framing today has moved away from.
Still Family-Owned, Still in Middle Village
Nearly forty years later, the shop is still family-owned and operated. Over the years, clients have come from across New York, the tri-state area, and occasionally from as far as Europe. There’s been talk, more than once, of expanding or relocating to a bigger space — but Middle Village has always been home, and that hasn’t changed.
To mark the shop’s approaching 40-year milestone, the name changed one more time — this time to pay tribute to the community that built it: Middle Village Frame Shoppe.
What Hasn’t Changed
The name has evolved three times. What hasn’t moved is the approach: every frame is built on-site, every piece is treated like it matters, and every customer gets talked through their options rather than handed a form to fill out. Whether it’s a diploma, a family photo, a signed jersey, or a piece of fine art, that’s still the same shop Anthony and Rosemary opened all those years ago — just with a name that finally says where it’s always been.
Come Say Hello
If you’re in Middle Village, Ridgewood, Glendale, Forest Hills, or anywhere nearby and have something worth framing right, we’d love to meet you.
Middle Village Frame Shoppe 75-19 68th Ave, Middle Village, NY 11379 (718) 326-5721 Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10:30am–5:30pm, Saturday 10:30am–2:30pm