Hyatt's All Things Creative
“I have known about Hyatt’s for over 25 years and over the last few I have been fortunate to collaborate with them as Key Account Manager with Royal Talens North America. Hyatt’s is truly a family business with the third generation now actively involved in most every aspect of their operations. Over the years, Hyatt’s has thoughtfully curated and evolved their product categories by paying careful attention to consumer trends and shopping patterns. Today eCommerce is a large part of their success and the newly expanded retail outlet is one of their proudest achievements. In times when brick and mortar stores are closing and shrinking, Hyatt’s boldly expanded to better serve not only their customers and retail channels but their employees as well. I was able to visit Hyatt’s several times during the expansion process and was given tours of the new building. The common thread was the thoughtful layout design based around the needs of the employees. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out who is not related because all of the employees seem to be a part of the family! Grace Bly is our key purchasing contact at Hyatt’s and is always interested in what we are doing and is consistently open to being a really great partner. We are all lucky to be part of a very innovative business in Art Materials and Hyatt’s has shown us all how to take a creative business approach.”
HISTORY
Hyatt’s was founded in 1959 by Charles Hyatt. After many years in the printing supply industry, he started his own business selling pre-press supplies to printers and commercial artists. After two years Hyatt’s moved to 910 Main Street in Buffalo, NY which would be our home for the next 58 years.
In the 70’s Charles’s sons, Greg and Peter, entered the business and were able to substantially grow the business. Greg produced our first catalog, greatly expanding out commercial arts business. In the 80’s, Peter became interested in new digital printing technology geared towards sign making and graphics. Our new Sign Division opened us up to a whole new customer base.
Hyatt’s has always been an innovative and forward-thinking company. We created a digital database of all our product in the early 80’s and created a perpetual inventory system shortly thereafter.
As retail faced challenges, we realized that all the things that made us successful in B2B sales, also allowed us to grow in e-commerce. We have been actively selling online for nearly 20 years and it has allowed us to reach out to new customers around the world, and to try out a broader range of products that our retail base couldn’t otherwise justify.
Following the recession, Greg’s daughters Sara and Beth came back into the business. Beth also brought her husband, Seth Martin, kicking and screaming.
After a coming to terms with the fact that we had out-grown our 24,000 sqft building in downtown Buffalo, we moved to a new 42,000 sqft location in North Buffalo January of 2019. We consolidated our retail, office and warehouse spaces into a single location which is now the largest art supply store in the country!
WHAT MAKES HYATT’S SUCCESSFUL TODAY
We have a great long-tenured staff and provides excellent customer service and help solve our customers problems.
We support lots of local non-profits and art groups by giving material and educational support, particularly things focused on young artists or public art.
We carry a much deeper range of products than most independent art supply stores and regularly help customers track down hard-to-find items.
RECENT SPECIAL EVENTS
In June of 2018 we had a big party celebrating our 60th Anniversary. We had food trucks, drinks, desserts, etc., and were joined by about 150 employees, manufacturers, and representatives from the local arts community.
WHY WE CARRY ROYAL TALENS
Royal Talens has been great to work with from the top down. The quality of the product speaks for itself, and the leadership team has been willing to be flexible and partner in a way that allows us to bring new products and experiences to our customers.
