Profiles of Two Startups in Northwest Arkansas

Frames By Design
Owner: Phil and Shawna Robinson
Address: 1806 N. Crossover Road, Suite 4, Fayetteville 72701
Phone/Fax: (479) 571-4343
Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday
Startup: Sept. 5
E-mail: [email protected]

Shawna Robinson struggled to make her dream of owning a creative custom frame shop come true until she hired the right framer. She opened the shop in Crossroads Village four months ago, but it took several weeks to find Sean Fournier.

Since then, Robinson said, she’s added to the frame shop’s equipment to create a “state-of-the-art creative custom frame shop” with a computerized mat-cutter and the latest high-tech joiners.

Now the shop offers custom shadowboxes and specialties, such as fabric-covered frames that can match other fabric in a room.

The shop has some artwork available in its 1,000-SF showroom. Robinson contracts with an Oklahoma City art gallery to provide art from the Pino collection and well-known artists such as Cao Yong and Judy Larson. Frames By Design also offers some ethnic art.

Robinson hopes business will expand enough this year to allow her to hire a second full-time framer.

Robinson invested an estimated $50,000 to open the 2,500-SF shop and hopes to recover the investment in the first three years of operation.

Asterix Inc.
Owner: Joseph Herrod, president
Address: 910 Shaver St., Springdale 72762
Phone/Fax: (479) 750-4949/(479) 872-7905
Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Startup: Nov. 1
Web site: www.theasterix.com

With 25 employees and offices that simultaneously opened in Tulsa and Springdale, Asterix hit the market hard when it opened for business a few months ago.

Joseph Herrod, president, said the company offers a variety of services when it comes to product displays, trade shows and conventions.

“We do specialized project management,” he said.

That means Asterix can handle the entire trade show display from design and build to removal and storage. Herrod said Asterix has a large warehouse in its 40,000-SF facility in Springdale to store of some of those displays.

The company can handle management of the full trade show from start to finish. It also offers point-of-purchase displays, lobby displays and waiting-area displays.

Asterix has built up a strong client list for its trade show services. Herrod said the company is making a name for itself nationally with those services. He credits Asterix’ hardworking team and talented designers with much of the company’s success to date.

Herrod is working now to build relationships with other Northwest Arkansas companies to offer more services and be more competitive in the trade show and product display market.

He couldn’t say how much he expects Asterix to grow in the next year.

“We’re so new, we really don’t know what to expect,” he said.

“I will say that our team is very busy right now. We don’t have anybody just sitting around.”

He declined to say how much was invested to start Asterix but said he expects the company to earn the investment back in the first year.