OUR STORY
Our company started 45 years ago as Frame-O-Rama, a do-it-yourself custom frame shop in the heart of San Francisco. For decades, we had seen the trends in picture framing change from the do-it-yourself custom of the 70s to the full service, high end custom picture framing of the 80s, onto the early years of Cheap Pete's, with a demand in lower cost quality picture frames. Frame-O-Rama's extra moulding lengths and "oops" frames were turned into Cheap Pete's readymade selection and were sold for a fraction of the cost for a custom frame. Since the establishment of the first Cheap Pete's on Geary in San Francisco in 1988, we've expanded our selection of readymade picture frames by 100s--most of which are our very own brand of eco-friendly recycled wood frames, the Bay Area Built by Cheap Pete's collections--sell pre-cut mats and framing supplies, offer high quality custom printing, and even provide custom framing options, to cover anyone's picture framing needs.
OUR APPROACH
We pride ourselves on our exceptional customer service and the value of our products. From store to store, and now online from our customer service desks, our clients are assured to receive the highest level of customer service. Offering the range of services and products that we carry, we want to help our customers find the perfect solution for all their framing needs and at any budget. We follow the trends and try our best to carry and build our own readymade frames to meet the demands. While we carry items in our stores from outside picture frame manufacturers, we continue to expand our Bay Area Built by Cheap Pete's collections. By doing so, we are able to offer the highest quality readymade frames that meet our CP quality standards, and we are able to keep the cost down for our customers.
OUR PRODUCTS
As artists and framers, we try to keep up with the needs of our valued customers and clients and want to make it easy for them--for you--to get what you need for your home's photo wall, your office certificate display, or your kid's art for Grandma's birthday. Our stores offer full lines of readymade products, including readymade frames in standard photo print and paper sizes, photo albums, pre-cut mats, easels, hardware and other framing supplies. Online, we offer our most popular and dependable readymade products, our Bay Area Built by Cheap Pete's readymade frames, as well as high-demand framing supplies and pre-cut mats. We now offer custom framing and printing for you to design from the comfort of home.
OUR SERVICES
With 45 years under our belts, we can say we are experts in the field. Picture framing is truly a hands-on experience, more than "four sticks of wood slapped together", as some may suggest. Time and care go into good quality, and we work hard to produce the best quality framing we can.
At our SF Bay Area stores, we offer design consultation for your piece, whether it needs a custom frame or can fit in a readymade frame with custom elements--many times you can walk out with everything you need to get your project done that same day. Glazing cuts and replacements, high quality photo and art printing, and assembly services are also offered at our stores.
It's funny how the beauty of art has so much more to do with the frame than the artwork itself." - Chuck Palahniuk
SHORT ANSWER
The founder of CP Photos & Frames named the joint after himself, Peter! When the offshoot shop was established in 1988, the store was named Cheap Pete's Frame Factory Outlet.
LONG ANSWER
The original brainchild of Peter, the do-it-yourself frame shop named Frame-O-Rama, was going like gangbusters. But with the DIY formula, there was an inevitable stack of mismeasurements and unused built custom frames. Peter established Cheap Pete's in a single car garage sized space on Geary Boulevard in SF, offering the excess frames at a much cheaper price than a typical custom frame. He then began to establish relationships with big frame manufacturers and started offering manufacturer overstocks and even damages at cheaper prices. Over decades, Cheap Pete's grew and grew, becoming a household name to SF Bay Area residents, known for the selection and low prices in readymade frames.
Over the years, Cheap Pete's had a few facelifts (not founder Peter!), along with the stores that were opened up throughout the Bay. The product selection has changed completely, now as CP offers mostly frames built exclusively by us in our Bay Area production facility. Although we've moved on from the outlet categorization, the cartoonish persona, and more noteably, the "cheap" moniker, you can still find the Cheap Pete spirit throughout our Bay Area CP shops, with our level of customer care and service, expertise in the art of framing, and as competitive of pricing as we can possibly get in this day and age!
As a small and still family owned business, CP Photos & Frames works hard to give the best framing and shopping experience to our clients. Visit us and see for yourself--Maybe you'll run in to Pete, who still stops by from time to time!