H.R. Meininger Co. at 499 Broadway turns 125 Saturday and will celebrate with calligraphy, face painting and a giant cupcake cake.
The art-supply store has beaten the odds by remaining a family-owned business for four generations. It has carved out a market against category-killers such as Hobby Lobby and Michael’s while serving a client list that has included renowned artists, actors and a president.
“The type of store we have is really different,” said fourth-generation president Henry Meininger. “It’s so hard to find stores like this because they require so much inventory.”
He stocks 80,000 items, including brushes, canvases, books and paints, and averages 300 to 400 customers a day. Sales are growing about 4 percent each year. A second store operates in Colorado Springs.
Meininger’s has seen its share of noteworthy customers since opening in 1881. Frederic Remington, painter of the American West and friend of company founder Emil Meininger, stopped by in 1886 while on his way to paint the Indian tribes of southwestern Colorado.
President Eisenhower had his aides pick up oil paints and art supplies in the 1950s. Comedian Red Skelton came in for art supplies in the 1970s, as did actor Anthony Quinn, who was in town to play in “Zorba the Greek.”
While 30 percent of all family-owned businesses survive into the second generation, just 10 percent are viable into the third, and only 3 percent reach the fourth and beyond, according to Joseph H. Astrachan, director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
“Beyond luck, they have to have a real strong desire to be a family and keep the business together,” Astrachan said.
Meininger agreed that keeping a store in the family is not easy. “You have to respect what your father did for you to get you where you are,” he said.
The Denver store relocated four times before settling on Broadway. The Colorado Springs location opened in 1993.
Meininger said the store targets the general public as well as students and “people who paint at home, professionally or as hobbyists.”
Linda Bradford, 69, started painting after she retired and has been coming to Meininger for nine years.
“They keep up with the times and keep up with the products,” she said. “I always find what I want, and the people that work here are very knowledgeable.”
Staff writer Ameera Butt can be reached at 303-820-1233 or abutt@denverpost.com.
