Art store is drawing its final customers
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Imagine a store where the owners are actually on site, helping customers they know by name.

For 26 years, Mittels Art and Framing Center in Thousand Oaks has been that kind of destination for artists seeking supplies. Jay and Pat Mittel, their son, Chris Mittel, and daughter, Camille Hicks, have been on hand, ready to answer questions about paper, paint, brushes or just about anything an artist would need.

If that sounds too good to be true, it is- or it will be after May 31, when the family owned store at 808 Thousand Oaks Blvd. will close its doors.

Right now everything in the store in the Heritage Plaza shopping center near the 23 Freeway is on sale at a deep discount. The prices are so good, you would think customers would be smiling, but most are not.

"It's sad. I've been shopping here forever for myself and my school," said art teacher Marilyn Fine. "The Mittels are so schoolfriendly and personable. If I wanted it and they didn't have it, they'd get it."

Fine's arms were full of supplies and gifts for her students, items she would have gladly purchased at full price rather than have the store close.

"We don't have enough business to pay the high rent in Thousand Oaks," Chris Mittel explained.

"There are not enough artists in this area," he said.

The family has two other stores that will remain open. One his parents established in Santa Monica in 1954. The other is in Woodland Hills and it began operating in 1981 at the same time as the Thousand Oaks store.

"It breaks my heart they can't survive because the rents in Thousand Oaks are out of control," loyal customer Sally Primm said. "It's really a shame."

Primm has shopped there for 16 years and has valued the Mittels' well-stocked store: Rows and shelves are filled with a wide selection of artist supplies that cannot be found at office supply or craft stores.

"Artists have traveled for miles to come to this store because of their big selection," Primm said.

The knowledgeable owners could tell her which of 15 different paper weights would be the best for her project or whatever else she needed to know, Primm said.

Over the years the family watched their inventory change as computers took over the design business. Items architects once bought to make hand renderings aren't used as much anymore, although some companies are going back to it, Chris said. A great big rack display of vinyl letters, once used to make signs, is now only sold in a small box somewhere in the store.

"There's just not as much art done by hand now that computers can be used to manipulate designs," he said.