Special to PN
By Sue Colbert
“It was only supposed to be for five years!” laughs matriarch Mary Colbert when reminiscing about the beginning of Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing.
Thirty-eight years later, the business is still going strong, now run by her granddaughter, third-generation owner, Stephanie Colbert Randall, who recently celebrated the grand opening of a spacious new studio in north Naperville.
In 1987, Tom Colbert was looking for something to bridge the gap between his retirement from a successful retail management career and full retirement, when he and his wife, Mary, bought into a do-it-yourself and custom framing franchise called Framin’ Place. While Tom went to work to build out the store front in Naperville Plaza, Mary headed to Houston with 15-year-old son Matt to attend the Framin’ Place school where they would learn “everything there is to know about framing.” Over the years, all of Tom and Mary’s eight children—as well as a number of their grandchildren and spouses—have worked in the business in some capacity.
After successfully running the business for seven years, Tom and Mary officially retired in 1995 and sold the business to their son, my husband, Kevin. With a marketing degree in his back pocket, work experience in sales and construction, and a zealous work ethic, Kevin hit the road running, moving our young family to Naperville.
Tom and Mary had grounded the business in professionalism, craftsmanship, personal service and community involvement, all of which Kevin continued in the next phase of the business. The Framin’ Place franchise no longer existed, so Kevin and I rebranded the store as Colbert Custom Framing to reflect its independence and family ownership.
When we first took over the business, our three children were ten, seven and four years old. They have “fond” memories of sitting on sleeping bags in the back of the store, eating pizza and watching movies on a rented TV/VCR from the video store across the plaza, while Kevin and I assembled framing orders in the middle of the night during the busy Christmas season.
You’re Going to Love It…
That’s also when we introduced the enduring “You’re Going to Love It” slogan, aiming to please every customer.
When customers picked up their finished pieces, they invariably exclaimed, “I love it!” And that’s how the slogan was born. It appeared in print ads as well as TV and radio commercials, and it stuck so soundly that years later when we tried to introduce a new slogan, it didn’t take.
“I’d see people in public and they would still wave and shout, ‘You’re Going To Love It!’” Kevin recalls. To this day it’s still the slogan, and customers are still saying, “I love it!”
Our kids got to be in many of the print ads and television commercials, and because of this, Stephanie says people in the community have told her, “I watched you grow up!”
On the move in 1998
By 1998 the small store front was bursting at the seams, so we rented warehouse space and built a production facility for the cutting and joining of mats and frames offsite. The artwork stayed in the store where the completed mats and frames were transported from the warehouse to be assembled.
Things were happening fast. The economy was good, Kevin was working long, hard hours–on the business and in the community–and business was booming. Never one to let grass grow under his feet, he decided it was time to expand–maybe start his own franchise. So a second location in Aurora on Montgomery Road was birthed in 1999, and a third location opened in Geneva on Sept. 9, 2001. Two days later, on September 11, when the world came to a screeching halt, Kevin determined to keep the store open. Son Micah remembers Kevin’s saying, “If people do come in, they will need to talk, and we need to be there for them.”
Micah says he carries that family philosophy with him in his current sales career. “I want to be there for my customers when they need me,” he says. “Even if it’s not for a sale.”
Stephanie remembers the whole family working on the build out of the Geneva store on the Fourth of July when she was 15 years old. Toward the end of the day she said, “I was about to complain that we have to work on the Fourth of July, but then I realized this is what America is all about!”
In fact, she started her work in our family business at a very young age, stapling packets of picture hooks for Welcome Wagon ads for three cents per piece. Our children were homeschooled, which gave them plenty of opportunity for hands-on lessons in many things, including entrepreneurship and building trades. They still talk about the lemonade stand they set up one summer. They were excited about all the money they made until they had to pay all the neighbor kids who came to help, and I made them pay for the supplies (and even charged them table rent for the card table they used). All so they would have a more realistic understanding of how business really works.
Stephanie’s younger brothers, Stephen and Micah, both started in our business as janitors and eventually did work as fitters, designers and art installers. Though as adults their own careers took them in different directions, they both concur that growing up in a family business has had a profound and positive impact on their lives. Stephen reflects, “It’s always given me a sense of ownership of my work and a clear understanding of my importance in any company I’ve worked for.”
Stephanie graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Communications. She interviewed in Chicago with the largest PR firm in the world, and Kevin and I assumed she would be off on her own for a career in public relations. But by the time she returned to Naperville on the train from Chicago, she had firmly decided the corporate world was not for her. “I want to work for a family business and be involved in the community,” she declared.
Of course, we were delighted to have her on board. Growing up in a family business, the kids had seen first hand the dedication and sacrifice it takes–plans get changed, vacations get canceled, and stressful situations that come with business ownership can keep you awake at night. But Stephanie was up for the challenge.
Colbert Custom Framing Adds Art Printing
Always having an eye toward innovation and adaptation, Kevin had introduced cutting-edge technology throughout the years, which allowed us to outlast competitors in the area. In 2006, he introduced digital printing, and Stephanie was on the ground floor of that aspect of the business. To reflect its broader scope, the name of the company was officially changed to Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing.
In the next few years, tough economic times saw the closing of many frame stores, but Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing adapted, innovated, and held firm. In 2011 the leases on all three stores and the warehouse were up, and we took advantage of the opportunity to take the business to the next level—one central supercenter space that would contain the warehouse, production room, design center, printing studio and offices. It was a very intense effort in a relatively short amount of time. The new store was a complete remodel of the existing space, designed and managed by Kevin.
In just four months he had amassed the drawings and navigated the permit and inspection processes with the City while overseeing the construction and doing much of the work himself. Family and staff worked tirelessly to close down and move everything from the other locations to allow for a nearly seamless transition.
Family Business Moves to Market Meadows
On August 31, 2011, Kevin’s 50th birthday, the register opened for the day at the Naperville Plaza location, and the closing reports were done at the end of the day at the new Market Meadows location. Miraculously, the business was not closed a single day for the move.
Micah remembers the intensity of helping his dad in the construction of the new store, with a deadline pressing in and a nearly insurmountable amount of work ahead. Kevin is known for working long days, rarely even stopping to eat.
Once when they were working on the ceiling, some metal slipped and cut his neck. Alarmed, Micah said, “Dad, your neck is bleeding!”
Without missing a beat, Kevin shot back, “Is it gushing or bleeding?” When Micah hesitated, Kevin repeated, “Is it gushing or bleeding?!”
“Uh, it’s bleeding,” Micah answered.
“Fine!” Kevin added. “Hand me another screw!”
In 2017, with Stephanie ready–and more than able–to take over the helm, she officially purchased the business and became the third-generation owner. Knowing we would need to keep busy in retirement, Kevin and I moved to rural Dixon, IL, where we reimagined and remodeled a fixer upper and began raising animals on our small plot of land. Kevin says he’s just far enough away to give Stephanie space, but near enough to help if she needs him–like the three times she gave herself a few short weeks of maternity leave.
For 14 years the Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing supercenter flourished in Market Meadows. Stephanie continued the tradition of state-of-the-art technology and innovation, as well as adding engraving services and increasing the residential and corporate database to nearly 30,000 customers. With the business growing and drawing clients from an even larger suburban area, the time for yet another move came this year, as Stephanie embarked on the next chapter in the history of the business.
Business Moves Again in Naperville
On Aug. 16, 2025, Stephanie opened the new Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing studio at 1842 Centre Point Circle #128. The beautiful new space belies the colossal effort behind its realization.
It was all hands on deck for the Colbert family over the summer as the vacant office shell was transformed into a stylish boutique warehouse studio. Kevin, as general contractor of the project, did a reprise of his 2011 feat, again completing the entire project in just four months. Stephanie’s husband, Jason, who is a full-time dad as well as a church music director and piano teacher, rolled up his sleeves and joined in the construction work. Kevin stayed in Naperville for the summer while working 14-hour days, and Stephanie and Jason’s three girls–ages six, five, and three–got to go to rural Dixon for the summer to attend “Grandma Camp” where they “helped” with gardening and caring for 19 goats, 33 chickens, three cats and a dog.
Meanwhile, Stephanie was holding down the fort, running the business with her staff at the Market Meadows location, attending meetings at the city to navigate the tedious permit and inspection processes, and managing the logistics of moving materials, supplies, tools, and heavy equipment to the new space. She attributes an important portion of the success of the transition to her wonderful staff who supported the move and who do an outstanding job by the customers.
Over the years, our family business has employed more than 200 people.
“The business has always been about more than just what we do,” shared Stephanie. “It’s about who we do it with. I’ve been incredibly blessed to work alongside family and amazing team members who’ve truly become family. Their support, hard work and genuine care for every customer have carried us through every season.”
With the grand opening of the new studio, Colbert Custom Framing & Art Printing is poised for the next chapter in its nearly four-decade history. Response to the new location has been phenomenal according to Stephanie.
“I’d say 90% of my customers have told me this location is even more convenient for them,” she relates. “We’re now regionally located, and proximity to the tollway allows for easy access for clients all throughout the western suburbs and beyond.”
With designated parking as well as a loading dock and garage in the back, the facility is fully equipped for the future as the enterprise expands corporate business while staying personal with its residential customers.
Yes, there have been awards over the years–Naperville Small Business of the Year, Business Ledger Retail Business of the Year, Illinois Family Business of the Year Finalist–but, for the Colberts, the best reward of all is hearing those three precious words when a customer picks up a piece, “I love it!”
It never gets old.
