Asel Art Supply, a Dallas-Fort Worth institution for 70 years, is closing for good
It’s a story told all too many times: another local business closes its doors amid supply chain issues, online competition and COVID-19 setbacks.
Asel Art Supply has been in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for more than 70 years, but all of its locations will close by the end of the year. The company’s Fort Worth store at 825 Foch St., in the West 7th Street district, will go dark Dec. 31 along with four other locations in Arlington, Richardson and San Antonio.
“I’m scrambling,” said operations manager Floyd Cornwell, who works at a Dallas location. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay my mortgage. It’s already a month late.”
The disabled veteran said he wasn’t getting rich working at the art supply warehouse; he did it out of passion as a working artist for 30 years. Cornwell worked out of Asel Art Supply’s Dallas warehouse for eight years with hopes of influencing Texas art education.
“I really don’t know what else to do,” Cornwell said.
Over the years, Cornwell watched as aspiring and professional artists entered the doors of the art retail store looking for help on their latest projects and ideas. Asel Art Supply employees established relationships with frequent customers, many of whom went on to feature their work in galleries across DFW. Now, Cornwell said some have come into the store in tears at the news of the chain’s closure.
“It’s like a community is being taken apart,” Cornwell said.
Cornwell doesn’t seem to be the only one who thinks so. Loyal fans of the store have expressed disappointment in the shop’s closing on social media since the announcement last week.
“This is so sad,” one Instagram user wrote. “I have shopped with Asel for 30 years. A real loss for artists as there will be a huge hole left. In many areas, like Lubbock in west Texas and the DFW metroplex, it is the only place a professional artist can go.”
“My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined,” another said.
For years, the art supplier would buy products for its stores directly from manufacturers. But when it became cheaper for artists to get their supplies from Amazon than the manufacturers themselves, it became a big problem for Asel Art Supply, Cornwell said.
“It was the same old story with Walmart. There go all the mom and pop shops,” Cornwell said. “It finally hit us.”
The pandemic and supply chain issues only aggravated the situation further. Vendors were behind schedule, so Asel wasn’t able to produce the materials its customers were expecting, Cornwell said.
It seemed like the writing was on the wall when Asel Art Supply announced the closing of its flagship store on Cedar Springs Road near Uptown Dallas back in September. The company had operated out of the 100-year-old building for more than five decades.
“Once that property was sold, it was a matter of dominoes falling,” Cornwell said.
“The art world is really competitive now,” said Fort Worth store manager Mike Moffatt. “COVID is the reason we’re not open any longer just because of the changing art world after the pandemic.”
The Fort Worth store has been around since the 1980s, Moffatt said. The store manager worked at the company for more than 14 years and said it’s been emotional for some customers who have been visiting Asel for longer than many employees have been alive.
Moffatt said the shop has served professional artists in DFW including award-winning creator Jeremy Biggers and muralist Carlos DonJuan. On the up side, the Fort Worth location has seen more business than ever in the last two weeks as fans come in for a last chance to visit the shop, Moffatt said.
“There is still a market,” Moffatt said. “It’s hard for us. This isn’t something that anybody gets used to or even ready for if you close a store. It’s brutal. We’re trying to do what we can.”
Asel Art Supply’s closing is the latest in a years-long trend of major players like Amazon and Walmart beating out small retailers. While small, independent businesses scrambled to counter the nation’s supply chain issues starting last year, Amazon and Walmart used their millions in resources to charter planes and ships to transport their goods.
Two years before the pandemic, 75% of independent retailers ranked Amazon’s dominance as a major threat to their survival, and only 11% of retailers described their experience selling on its site as successful, according to a 2019 survey from the Institute for Local Self Reliance.
Asel Art Supply is offering a 40% discount throughout all store locations before the chain’s Dec. 31 closing. Asel Art Supply also operates a college bookstore near Texas Tech in Lubbock slated to close by the end of the year as well. Moffatt said the company’s Dallas warehouse will remain open through the new year but it’s unclear how long it will stay after that.
The art store was founded in the 1950s by World War II veterans Kenny and Herb Asel, according to the company’s website. Its first location opened in Dallas, TX, after the brothers got introduced to the paint business. The business was sold to a group of investors in the 1970s who eventually sold their shares back to the company. In the late 1980s it became employee owned and remains family operated.
Asel Art Supply owners were not available for comment.
“The most beautiful thing about this company is the family values,” Cornwell said.
“Asel provided the structure that I needed,” Moffatt said. “By working here, asking questions, being curious, being creative–it always helped me grow as an artist and as a person. This is tough but I’ve made a lot of connections in this place. So many artists have come through and gone on to do bigger things and grown their art. That’s pretty special.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 4:51 PM.
