art framer

sales associate

retail sales associate

assistant manager

store manager

JERRYS ARTARAMA

Jerry's Artarama is a fun place to work. In addition to being the largest art supply store in CT, the environment is one which fosters creativity both in its customers, and its employees, most of whom are artists, or have an artistic background. Their discount program, the "Jerry's Card" offers a 10% discount to customers, for an initial fee of $14.95, with a required annual renewal fee. In addition, customers are provided with money saving coupons, and unparalleled expertise. Well stocked, diverse merchandise, and always willing to order and ship out of stock merchandise. Youthful floor staff comprised of student/artists, many of whom were only too willing to teach me about mediums with which I was unfamiliar, thereby increasing my well of knowledge, and vice versa. High energy, lively coworkers added to the upbeat atmosphere, and made going to work a fun experience. Local artists, and artist organizations frequently post notices of exhibitions, which makes Jerry's a hub for anyone looking to keep a finger on the pulse of the CT art scene. Classes and demonstrations regularly offered.
Excellent custom framing department, with highly experienced framer willing to go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.
Heavily involved in local art scene through sponsorship and donations.
Voted Best Art Store in the Hartford Advocate Readers Poll 10* years running.

*unsure about this, but it's been true since I began employment in 2004 that they have been voted Best, so its true for at least 8 years.

Being retail, there was always the possibility of rude, demanding customers unwilling to understand or appreciate anything beyond their needs. We as a staff have taken numerous instances of unwarranted abuse, regarding situations which really were beyond our control. There is nothing like being chastised by a customer for being unable to return an item which is no longer stocked, long past the allowable return window, and without proper documentation. Nothing quite like being made to feel worthless due to unavailable merchandise, and not having an exact time frame for delivery, or not having an exact product, and being unable to order, a sentiment shared generally throughout retail. The staff at Jerry's bends over backwards to provide excellent customer service, only to deal with those who feel not enough effort is being put into helping them.

Avoid at all costs! No transparency from upper management which leads to a lot of  disorganization and miscommunication. Zero room for growth or advancement. Be prepared to take on plenty of extra work without an increase in pay or any acknowledgement. Everyone is expected to work out problems on their own without direction from management. Many people have a passive aggressive attitude which creates a tense/awkward work environment; being in the office is a depressing time. The owners are very stuck in their ways and out of touch. They don’t value their employees and they’re known to talk about social/political issues with no regard for anyone else’s views (e.g. whatever racist/sexist topic they feel appropriate to discuss during the work day). 

No yearly reviews, no raises (except for a select few, this place is a major boys’ club). Their idea of ‘improving morale’ is to provide lunches and not listen to the actual problems people have. Daring to mention areas of change or to question shady policies will have you fired so everyone gossips instead. 

If you’re looking for a company where you can thrive, look elsewhere! 


A typical day at work usually involves communicating the subjective uses of the products sold to customers(mostly artists), so that they might understand how they will perform, before trying that product. That, in many cases, requires creative input from the employee, and some investigative work in conversation to find out their actual needs.
The store being a premiere art center, encouraged the business to test new products and their employees to try them as well.  The variety of product allowed me to experiment more easily through demonstrations from sales representatives, rather than investing personally in these products. The hardest part of the job has to be when a customer has a clear product in mind, and is not willing to experiment or try alternatives to meet their goal and/or deadlines.
The best part of the job was interacting with these customers, artists, and listening to their issues with creative projects. To make a suggestion or two in a new direction, and for that customer to come back and appreciate the subjective advice, was always rewarding.

This place could not be worse. My manager was very snippy with me and was frequently condescending, as was another co-worker. I believe they were management, but it was tough to tell because their job had no description at all, yet they commanded the place as though they owned it. I was given several objectives daily, then forced to perform every OTHER task in sight. I was given more responsibilities than any human being should ever be in charge of, and I was never treated like a person. I had a few instances where my manager verbally abused me in front of customers. I was only marginally trained, and was horrified to later learn that my paycheck was just a "guesstimate" as to how many hours I actually worked. I was also told that certain holidays were paid, which was NOT reflected in my check. I was also informed by co-workers that the health insurance, which was touted as decent, would decrease my check by more than half, and was consistently called "a joke." 

Bottom line, do not work here unless you like feeling worthless.

This job is worth having if you do art a lot. You get a decent discount which can be dangerous. You end up usually spending a good amount of your paycheck there. The hours can be kind of demanding if you live an hour away like me. You don't get much time to your day. You do get an hour long lunch which is nice. The pay is okay. The people that work with you are usually awesome and nice. The management is alright. I have learned more about art here than I ever did in high school. It is pretty easy for the most part. Ringing people out all day or stocking the shelves all day. There is some heavy lifting.

The fast pace environment and friendly staff and coworkers help to make learning fun and work easy. Also learning the products and what they do was interesting if your into art supplies and those sort of things . This was a part time gig for enduring high school and I enjoyed it very much. It was high paced and I got to speak with customers constantly on a daily basis from all over the country and converse with them about the products they were purchasing and what type of are they were using them for. Highly recommend getting a job here if you can . I love this job.

Working here wasn't the absolute worst, but it wasn't particularly fantastic. Very repetitive schedule, consistently doing the same tasks. Management over customer service (from my stint there) was excellent, but higher management within admin left one with a dry sense of a situation with a consistent promise to let one know information, to repeatedly forgetting. There was a lack of understanding for what was happening and what the situation was from day to day.

Most days were spent waiting around for any type of information to be able to continue laying out catalogs and marketing materials. It was a very uncreative position. Not much was learned, it was a very entry level position.

Intermediate management was great to work under and with. Overall and upper management was disappointing. Days were spent doing nothing, waiting for information to do our jobs.

Just going to the job knowing that I might do absolutely nothing was hard to get through. But my colleagues made getting through day bearable.

Customer service at a call center is typically going to be emotionally taxing, I believe that is a given when applying for that kind of work. It truly makes a huge difference to have the opportunity to train with experienced employees, and have positive relationships within the work space. Jerry's has incredible staff. I sincerely felt a familial connection with the customer service branch, they really take care of each other. You are encouraged to be yourself!

We would greet the customers and inquire if they needed help finding products or had any questions about the products themselves. I was able to learn a great deal about the merchandise. If we didn't know about a particular item, we were able to use the internet to do research. My co-workers and management were great. We are all artists and would collaborate on ideas with each other and with the customers. The most enjoyable part was when the customer would bring in their finished piece of work to show us how well it came out.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Art framer 8 salaries reported	$21.59 per hour
Sales associate 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour
Retail sales associate 2 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Assistant manager 1 salary reported	$32,000 per year
Store manager 1 salary reported	$86,900 per year

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