Iconic Jo’s Gallery of Detroit Spans Generations of Entrepreneurial Prosperity

For decades, young Garnette Archer watched her mother work full time as an assistant principal by day, then open up her home-based art gallery showroom in the family’s living room till 9pm. This was when the family sat down for their regular late evening meal together.?

?It was in the early 80s, and Archer considered the family business structure “normal”. She highly regarded the various celebrity African-American artists like Annie Lee and Kathleen Wilson who were regular overnight out of town guests in the family home.?

?Today as Detroit’s iconic Jo’s Gallery celebrates over 40 years of a family legacy in providing the nation’s more affluent Black community with original works of art, Archer has set her sights on expanding and growing her mom’s vision to reach customers globally.?

?We sat down with Garnette Archer to learn more about the rich history behind Jo’s Gallery and unpack her vision for the future.?

?What are some of the most significant differences in how your mother ran the business while you were growing up and how you are adjusting to the times to keep her legacy alive?

Mom branded the gallery as a homespun gathering place for lovers of art, jazz, poetry, etc. There was always something brewing in a crockpot and a huge casserole of cornbread being sliced up for customers and artists to enjoy. The discussions were never lacking in depth or passion. People took time reflecting and analyzing the art together, almost in homage to our unique Black experiences. I fondly recall when the growth of the business forced Mom’s expansion beyond our home to Livernois’ Avenue of Fashion. This was before it was a walkable gentrified area as it appears today. Back then only 10 percent of our customers were white people.?

Today we don’t offer free food, but we still brew up amazing flavors in sight and sound with our unique artistic offerings. I am proud to share that our online sales equal our in person foot traffic and we now have a 20 percent customer base that includes the white community. Because of this income stream, we offer many abstract pieces produced by Hispanic and other minority groups.? We are now also expanding ourselves to include a cafe in 2024 called Jo’s Gallery Cafe.??

?How do you plan to grow and expand your mother’s vision?

My mother passed away in 2012. She didn’t live to see our online explosion of sales or experience all the unique gallery led collections.? However, she did pass a strong sense of legacy and the importance of family business survival skills on to her grandchildren, who support me in the gallery today.? I am in the process of formally training our next generation of framers. I found out the hard way that succession planning in this area is vital for art galleries. Finding framers off the street that have all the skills I need is nearly impossible today, as framing is a dying art.? Instead, I’ve found it’s better to find people that are interested in learning the skill and pay for them to train under framing masters.? In addition, we plan to expand to add a cafe adjacent to the gallery in late 2023 called Jo’s Gallery Cafe, which would be a fusion style restaurant focused on pan-ethnic cuisine.???

How does it feel to be a part of a family legacy respected and appreciated by so many on the historic Avenue of Fashion in Detroit?

Honestly, I feel privileged and blessed to see Jo’s Gallery achieve second generation ownership.? Frankly, this has been anything but easy.? Transitioning to a new generation of art lovers and people with different buying habits while preserving the classic living room styled feel of buying art has created a unique challenge.? How we’ve solved that challenge is by hosting live streamed conversations with artists, posting regularly on five social media platforms and allowing customers to talk with our gallery assistant to provide insight that wouldn’t normally be available to online art buyers.? We don’t want to lose that living room feel, but we had to expand it to reach new customers outside of Detroit.???

Visit https://www.josgalleryonline.com/ to learn more!