Aaron Brothers

Always a great place for frames especially if you collect prints, movie posters, and the like in all sorts of sizes to fit. Good prices too especially during their BOGO promos or Good Buys Promos where reductions are usually 80% off! That’s no typo. That’s right. Get a 24×36 wooden frame for your favorite movie poster for about $ 4.99. You can’t beat that. Staff is typically very helpful and their custom framing, while expensive, is done professionally and done right the first time.

They’ve got a pretty good selection of art supplies! Only downfall is that things can run a bit on the pricy end so always make sure to check online for coupons! I didn’t know this until after my second visit there when I had already spent a couple hundred dollars there.

About a week ago, I needed a frame and some water color paper. The staff was very helpful on cutting a matte on the spot for the frame… But I got duped on their big savings on water color paper. I really should have known better! The block of Montval 12×16 was 50%. It came to about $ 30 with the discount. Just checking with dickblick, they sell it for $ 15. I love the convenience of shopping local but I see now their «sales» might be incentives to buy and not real savings. I see now they are good for a quick frame, but I’d recommend going elsewhere for art supplies, after all, their name is Aaron Brothers framing.

Decent frame choices although they all kinda look the same. If you are looking for unique, artists, or hand crafted frames, this is not the place. However they do carry a decent selection of small frames for photos. The prices are reasonable as well. HOWEVER…
Recently some of the staff members (one in particular) have been very unfriendly and rude. I totally get that they have to work with the public… which would drive me absolutely crazy because customers can be ridiculously rude and super dumb. So I really do try to be as nice as possible to the sales staff no matter where I shop. However on 3 separate occasions I was really taken a back by how I was treated by 1 sales associate in particular…
Usually if I come into a store and happen to make eye contact with en employee I always say ‘hello.’ This gal and I clearly made eye contact but said nothing when I greeted her. I just brushed it off and thought nothing of it.
But later when I was picking out some mat board she happened to be standing next to me when she loudly BURPED! I kinda thought it was funny so I looked over at her sorta surprised. She gave me this really weird/​rude smirk before turning around and walking away… I was like, alright chick, that’s strike 2.
The 3^rd and last time was at the register. Of course she was the one who was ringing me up. I tried to just make small talk with her and she completely ignored me, said nothing, and sorta flicked the receipt at me. After that I was thinking, F this! I just cooly thanked her and left! I couldn’t believe this girl! I did absolutely nothing to her and she was treating me like crap. It was seriously one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had at a store. The only thing I can say is I hope she isn’t working there much longer, but I certainly won’t be back!

On November 8^th I brought a painting to be framed. The store was extremely busy.
After waiting for some time and selecting a prefab frame I left my painting to be framed. I was not shown on the computer how it would look after it was framed.
If I had been told that the top of the head of my painting would have been cut off I
NEVER WOULD HAVE PLACED THE ORDER!!!
I picked my painting, the face of a woman, on November 19^th. I WAS EXTREMELY
DISPLEASED! I tried to get a refund for the frame but I was told they would not
Refund me my money.
I would give AARON BROTHERS located ion 180 E 3^rd Ave in San Mateo a 0 star
rating.
You would be more satisfied going to either Cheap Pete’s on 4^th in San Mateo or
Fast Frame at 1711 S El Camino Real also in San Mateo.

This is not the largest art supply store you’ll ever enter. But, you will find quite a bit. Oil paints, pastels, canvases, pens… Lots of quality items, but probably not an exhaustive selection of things that an artist would want or need. Interestingly they also have a lot of crafts and activities for children, too.
The frame selection is really good, and I’m guessing that’s their main «bread and butter» at this location. Some of the frames appear more formal, some more informal. Some metal; some acrylic; some wood. And you’ll find a lot of really attractive options. HOWEVER, I wish the sections were more clearly arranged and more clearly marked. Sometimes the shelf tag will say: «All [Name of Style] Frames X% Off» and… well, unless you know their styles by heart, it’s hard to tell which ones are actually on sale.
Service is pretty good. They usually have enough people to offer assistance to customers, as well as enough at the register.

Really disappointed with this place and their lack of organization/​customer service. I ordered a set of frames and was assured they would be in by a certain day.
This was not the case and it required multiple phone calls and visits to the store to see if the order had come in.
It would be nice if customers were contacted about delays and order status instead of the customer having to chase this up, after the store has taken your money!

Bad customer service. She (sales) was rude. They had no idea what I was talking about. Poor choice of frame. Go to other Aaron Brother store.

Bad customer service. I had to hunt for a person to ring me up since the register was unattended. Once I found someone to ring up ONE brush, there was already another lady at the counter with a bunch of stuff in hand waiting to be rung up. Instead of ringing up my ONE brush first, she chose to help the other lady.

This particular Aaron Brothers store is extremely poorly managed: avoid it.
We left a painting to be framed on February 9. We were quoted a pick-​up date of February 19. On February 23 I called to get a status. They were «running behind» and the frame had «just come in» and they would call when it was ready. On March 1 I called to get status. After having to give the order number to the person on the phone 3 times, basically because he didn’t pay attention to me, he put me on hold for 5 full minutes. Then a different voice picked up the phone and said «It’ll be ready at the end of the day.»
Today we went to pick it up. It was ready and they did a nice job, but we had to wait 30 minutes to talk to anyone to pick it up because «they were understaffed.» The gentleman in front of us was there to pick up two items that he had had framed and they spent 10 minutes looking for them without finding them. Finally he had to go behind the counter and point them out to the person looking for them. Then when he inspected them, they had not matched the matting on them, even though this was the third time he had them work on the items because of other screw-​ups. On top of it, the person helping him was rude to him.
Given the poor customer service (and the poor parking situation — 3^rd Ave in San Mateo is never pleasant), we won’t be going back.

I went three/​four times in the past month to buy some art supplies. They do not have a lot of stuff you can choose from, and it’s pricey. A customer and I arrived at the same time but the cashier preferred to help the other person obviously because she was going to buy 10 pictures frames. I had to pay only for a portfolio book. I had to wait 15 minutes while the cashier was praising the other customer. The other person working there was making a woman choose some frame with a turtle’s pace. In addition, when there are 50% coupons, you can’t even buy the cheapest stuff because they would put «on sale» stuff from say 8.99 to 8.50 so you can’t use the coupon. Horrible place, won’t go there, and won’t recommend.

The staff is helpful and knowledgeable but the prices here are outrageous. Even with a 50% discount from an Internet coupon I paid more than I was quoted for the same job at another framing shop in town.
If you want a standard sized frame you can probably find what you want here but I wouldn’t recommend them from a custom job.
Why didn’t I take the print to be framed at the other shop, you say? Oh, good Sir or Madam, that is because I was lazy and deserve to be parted with my money.

Ok I can’t quite comment on their selection, seems good enough to me although I’m no connoisseur regarding what should be stocked, nor what their custom framing services amount to.
What I can say is that for the ten years I have lived here and needed to purchase art supplies or pre-​fab frames etc., being able to check out at the retail register within 10 minutes of getting in line was an iffy prospect. About half the time the staff were helping people at the framing desk, and they would not momentarily drop anything to quickly ring something up. The last time I was here I waited 10 – 15 minutes and asked the clerk why they couldn’t muster up a clerk to work the retail register (and yes there were two of them), if only for a minute. I mean my gawd the lady she was helping appeared settled in to have an afternoon long conversation about anything and everything and was in NO hurry… but some other people kind of need to move on with their day at some point. She just gave me this icy stare and stated that «‘we’ (the employees) have to mullti-​task».
If only they were capable of actually doing that.

I came in with more framing problems for a show I was doing and LeDonrick helped me out. He gave me great advice, told me how to do a bunch of things myself that he could have charged me for, and was an all-​around nice guy. Seems to be a contagious attitude in this store. Want a baseline as to how bad it COULD be? Go to Cheap Pete’s down the street.

I usually go to the Aaron Bros in Daly City but I was in the area and needed some frames ASAP for my art show. I ran in like a mad woman and was greeted and asked if I needed help. I already knew what I came in for and usually don’t need help but I LOVE to be greeted. :) I got what I needed and the the guy that greeted me, didn’t catch his name but (young African American man with glasses) kept on saying hi to me everytime he walked by! I was so awesome and then I got really excited that I found the Prismacolor sharpener that I’ve been on the hunt for since I lost mine. It was starting to get busy as I brought my stuff to the register and he stepped away from his customer to ring me up. I love this place!

I went to Cheap Pete’s on 4^th, but it was a few minutes past 6 and they were already closed. I walked here to see what they had, talked to a sales associate about mats and ended up finding a 11×17 frame (without the SA’s help) which fit my print perfectly, sans mat.
I ended up buying the frame thinking it was 40% off (there were 40% off signs on almost all the shelves), only to find out at the register it was full price. I’m going back with a coupon next time and returning the full price one.
Michael’s and JoAnn’s didn’t have any 11×17 frames, so I’m glad I decided to look here.
Tip: Make sure to print a 40% off coupon from their website before you go to the store.

I have had nothing but a great experience here. The staff specifically this one girl has been super helpful to me. She helped me get a poster (41“x42″) that has been hanging on my wall getting all frumpy to finally have a solution. First I had gone to Tap Plastics thinking I could frame it cheap, NOPE $ 250! The Aaron Brothers girl helped me come up with the solution of dry mounting the poster to foam core and attaching 2 hooks on the back. Total cost $ 42. That is a dramatic amount I am saving. All I wanted was for the poster is to not crunch up. I don’t care about a frame or glass or acrylic on the top. Super happy and excited to be picking it up soon.

I love their One Cent Frame Sales which happens twice a year — once in January and once in June. I think both sales run for about 2 – 3 weeks.
I’ve been to this location a few times since I’ve moved to the Bay Area and never had a problem with the selection/​service.
I went today and the sales guy was so sweet and helpful (not just to me but to all the customers).
Make sure you check the frames carefully for any gashes since they are only covered in a plastic wrap.
The only down side is that they don’t carry unique, funky frames but it’s a great place to go if you are looking for your standard frames.

I went to go frame a art piece as a gift (got it from sweet breams down the street). I had no idea what to look for to make it look good. I even bough the wrong size frame, thinking it would just fit (good thing I tried it in the car). The staff can get kind of busy at times (I only ever see 2 at a time), so you might have to wait to get ringed up. But when I came back to return my frame, the guy was very helpful. He asked me why I was returning it and offered to help me pick out a frame. He ended up helping me buy my own mat to «accentuate the colors in the picture», and I was pleased how nicely it turned out (and for a fair price).
So props to the staff for helping the artistic/​design challenged customers to find great solutions!
Oh, and when I got home, i noticed a gash in the frame. Bummer, but the exchange was a breeze.

I was surprised that they carried such an assortment of art supplies and cards (Papyrus brand) when I thought they primarily specialized in custom framing. I managed to pick up a set of art supplies (colored pencils, pastels and a sketch book) as a birthday gift for a dear friend that I feel has neglected her talented creativity in recent years.
I was actually frustrated with how disorganized some of the products were. The place wasn’t messy … it’s just that products were not individually priced and would be sitting /​hanging with the wrong price so that was time consuming and annoying to try to decipher the labels.