business

P Street Pictures at 25

By Mary Bird

MAY 2008

Photo: Judy Schlosser

Judy Schlosser stands taller than her actual height, as well she should. Twenty-five years ago she founded what has become an “anchor store” on P Street at 27th Street.  Her best known coordinates are the 7-Eleven and the venerated Thrift Shop across the street. This well established small business offers a huge variety of framing options as well as original art and unique picture frames.

This is a woman-owed and women-manned business. If business acumen were measured in human kindness, Judy would top the charts. Her two cohorts Susan Barreca and Drena Anderson have been in for the long duration and don’t seem to have plans to move anywhere else than this hidden treasure of a corner. When I asked Judy about her rather high profile clientele, she demurred instantly.  My sense is that if something is well framed in Georgetown, it might have started life at P Street Pictures.

Virtually all work is done in the quite spacious subterranean workshop that combines many traditional tools of the craft along with a few more modern items that make sizing frames and other niceties less time-consuming.  For Judy, the end product is what counts and, as Drena quipped, “If it went too fast, what would I do all day?”

Judy has shunned advertising.  Her sense of giving back to the community has been an on-going involvement with education. She has generously provided gift certificates for custom framing at school auctions. To celebrate the landmark anniversary, the general public will be entitled to a 25% discount on all custom framing ordered during the month of May.
As an inducement, there is a toy chest in a corner with “certificates of good behavior” awarded to visiting young offspring as well as doggie treats for the “four on the floor” crowd.

P Street Pictures is at 2621 P Street, NW 202 337-0066