Business will leave its State College location after 50 years. What to know about its move

A longtime State College business is moving, but customers won’t have to travel too far to get to its new location.

The Frame Factory and Gallery is relocating to 137 W. High Street in Bellefonte this summer. Its current location at 426 Westerly Parkway, State College will close at the end of July, its website states, and the new Bellefonte store will be open later this summer.

The building that The Frame Factory and Gallery is currently in will soon be taken down, store owner Bill Ebken said in a phone interview. He’s known for about 10 years that he would eventually need to find a new building.

“I just have a lot of equipment, and I like the location I was in. Everyone knew where I was. I have a great customer base that comes back all the time, and I appreciate that. So I didn’t move until basically I needed to,” he said.

In 2020 the Centre County Gazette reported the property owner of the Westerly Parkway Plaza planned to demolish two older buildings on the northeast side of the property and construct a mixed-use building with student housing and commercial space. Since then other tenants, like Goodwill and Fuji & Jade Garden and My Thai, relocated.

Kandy Weader, Senior Commercial Associate at Bennett Williams Commercial, which manages the property, said Wednesday she didn’t have any new information to share about the project.

While Ebken searched for a new place in State College, he ended up finding a space in Bellefonte, noting the area has a lot to offer.

“They have a lot of different businesses … that are coming into town or have come into town, and it seems like a lot of younger people are moving there too because prices are more affordable for housing. And so I just thought, you know, this will work well,” Ebken said. “I did talk to my clientele over the months ... when I was having trouble finding a location (in State College), and I said, ‘Would you follow me to Bellefonte if I moved there?’ And almost everyone said ‘Yes.’”

Since he spent so long in a place he knew he’d eventually need to leave, Ebken said he didn’t invest a lot into the store itself. But that will change in the new location. He plans to have new carpeting, paint, lighting, and a realignment of the area to make it more attractive and workable.

Ebken is starting his 50th year in the business. As it’s grown over the years, he’s gotten more equipment and it’s been more spread out. But in the new space, he’ll have it in one area with more room to work on custom projects. They’ll likely have more frame and material samples for people to look at, as well.

“I’ll be, in some ways, glad to get out of here because I wasn’t able to really upgrade anything. I needed to do a lot of upgrades here, and 10 years going through and not doing anything, it’s not good. So it’ll be nice to get into a fresh scenario … I’m really looking forward to that,” he said.

Another change customers will see when they visit the store in Bellefonte is a difference in parking. In State College, the business is in a plaza with an entire parking lot. In Bellefonte, it will be street parking, although there are paid parking lots nearby. The new store will have a back door with limited short-term parking; customers can make arrangements to pick up something at the back door, rather than have to carry something large across the street.

He’ll also be looking to hire a new employee in addition to another recently hired person.

His customers have been understanding throughout the moving process, he said, so much so that some have even offered to help him move. While searching for a new location, he recalled hearing customers tell him, “You can’t retire, we need you,” which was a reason he kept going.

“I have incredibly loyal clientele that keep coming back, people from out of town. I have people from DC that come in and their parents have been clients. … Sometimes even during football games, I’ll have that scenario — people from Maryland, DC, other areas, that come in for one game and bring something into frame, and then they’ll come back two weeks, three weeks later and pick it up. It’s cool to have such loyal clientele. I appreciate that.”

There’s not an official date he plans to open in the Bellefonte location but plans to open in late August or possibly the beginning of September.