Dragon’s Den shares long-time secrets of success
Front Street art supply store and gift shop celebrates its 30th anniversary
Jeanette Beaven always loved to paint. As a child growing up in Penticton she distinctly remembers eagerly awaiting for her mother to return home from work at Stock’s camera shop on Main Street (where Pentagon Board Shop currently sits), with “dented” art supplies to play with.
Although Jeanette would never refer to herself as “a real artist,” she has always maintained her enthusiasm for the arts, but these days that passion translates into her heavy involvement in Penticton’s arts community as well as her management of the Dragon’s Den, an art supply store and gift shop owned and operated by her mother Jill since 1987.
“I’m not a terrific artist but I’m a good technician,” Jeanette explained during an interview in the Front Street shop Tuesday morning.
“I know how all my products work and I often do demonstrations. I love how different each brush or tool that we sell is. I love being able to show people what they can do with each type of brush or colour. And I really love helping someone select their tools and supplies when they’re just getting started.”
On more than one occasion, she added, customers have returned with their finished pieces to show her what she has contributed to.
“Sometimes they (customers) come back and show us what they’ve done and some of the stuff is extraordinary. They’ve got the touch, you can see it; even if we have to make sure they don’t mix oil and water next time.”
Jill shares her daughter’s passion for the shop, particularly the gift cards they sell.
“My mom hand picks each card we sell,” Jeanette explained. “We have been working with the same sales reps for years, so they know us and we know them – right down to what to order them for lunch, and Mom will sit there with them and go through crates and crates of cards, and Mom picks and chooses. I do the art supplies and Mom does the cards.”
While both women reflect fondly on their 30-plus years running the shop, Jill appears especially enthusiastic when she recalls discovering the historic building in 1986.
Over the course of three decades, she explains, as she and Jeanette begin poring over black and while photos of the original building after its construction in 1911, much like Front Street itself, the Dragon’s Den has evolved.
Situated in a 106 year-old building originally dubbed the third hotel and first “non-flammable” one, there was a barber shop and cafe on the main floor. Room prices started at 50 cents per night with weekly rates available.
The structure was quickly expanded to include additional living spaces available to rent, primarily to single men working in the mines. Renters could also receive a bagged lunch for an extra 35 cents a day.
By the time the Beavens purchased the structure, Jeanette said it had sat neglected for a number of years, having last operated as “a teen disco in the late-70s.”
“Then it was just locked up and left, it was horrible. There was a ton of smoke and water damage,” Jill added.
“When we looked at it there were other people interested in the building, but once they saw the state of it they said "no way."
True to their apparent creative and optimistic natures, Jill says she and her family were able to “see through the muck,” and went ahead and purchased the building.
“Front Street was the original industrial area,” Jill explained. “So the buildings were cheap but needed a lot of work. I actually found copies of the Star Weekly with photos of the Dionne quintuplets sixteenth birthday crumpled up and stuffed in the walls.”
The decision to sell gifts and art supplies, Jill continued, was just a given.
“In the late 1950s there weren’t any art supply stores in the area,” Jeanette added.
“When my mom started selling art you couldn’t even get acrylics and they’re the biggest part of the market now.”
They also try and give back to the community. In recognition of their 25th anniversary in 2012, they donated $25,000 to the Kiwanis Village for a gazebo.
Looking forward, the pair says they plan to keep catering to their loyal and new customers, and seeing their way through any “muck,” should they ever encounter any again.