Dick Blick's first catalog originated in 1911 in the form of a small pamphlet issued by its two founding partners, Mr. and Mrs. Dick Blick. The warehouse was located in their kitchen and shipping was done through the local post office. Their first product was a lettering pen, which quickly became a best seller. Today, Dick Blick remains the premier art supplies source for professional artists, students and teachers, and continues to be a family-owned business.

At Blick, you’ll find an environment that will develop, encourage, and support you. By hiring creative artists, talented number-crunchers, multi-system programmers, and innovative merchants, Blick has become a customer-focused company that operates in an open team environment. In addition, Blick’s medium-sized company environment is totally supported by state-of-the-art technology more common in much larger companies. To succeed, employees must be talented and dedicated to the Blick philosophy, plus willing to take ownership of their own careers. By frequently interacting with senior management and individuals in other departments, our employees are empowered to think creatively and offer ways to help the company succeed. We also believe that learning and promotional opportunities can only happen if managers are encouraging their employees to take on new responsibilities and learn new things. At Blick, we call this “cross-doing.”

In short, Blick is a great place for individuals who love to solve problems, and want to grow their careers at the same time.

Size alone is not the measure of our success. Rather, it is the faithful adherence to our founding principles that guides us:

• Provide our customers with the best pricing, selection and service available
  
• Create a working climate that calls forth the best in every employee
  
• Fully capitalize on emerging technologies and opportunities for growth
  

With our recent acquisition we will support artists and the art community in a fashion that is unprecedented given our incredible blend of service, selection and value.

Blick Art Materials provides a unique opportunity for professional development.

We’re small enough so you can…

• Directly influence company performance
  
• Learn about every area of the business
  
• Have a significant contact with senior management

…but big enough so you can

• Learn state-of-the-art technology
  
• Enjoy an outstanding benefits package
  
• Experience proven stability

Commitment to our customers

We are determined to make the customer experience easy, enjoyable, and productive.

Our customer satisfaction ratings, consistently the highest in the industry, are achieved by providing the largest, most comprehensive selection of products, and the highest level of customer service possible.

Equally important, we monitor our pricing every single day to ensure that our prices are lower than any of our competitors.


Commitment to our employees

At Blick, we strive to attract, develop, and retain great people. One of the ways we support this is through a commitment to our benefit plans, including profit-sharing and company-supported health insurance. Adjusted for taxes, the profit-sharing plan constitutes a cash payment of roughly 20 percent of annual company profits to support our employees' retirement goals.

Blick also offers unlimited promotional opportunities. We pride ourselves on consistently drawing from inside the company ranks to build a strong management team.

Commitment to our community

While Blick’s primary objective is to bring savings to our customers through value pricing, we also believe in promoting and supporting the visual arts.

Our corporate team promotes awareness in the art community at both the local and national levels, and our retail stores have become a vital part of the creative community by working closely with loyal art organizations. Combined, these efforts result in an annual commitment to the creative community of approximately $500,000.


Ownership

Owners either set the tone of an organization as pursuing short-term profits at all costs or setting limits on their importance. Our longstanding family ownership, now in its third generation, has kept management free from the pressure of quarterly earnings reports. Our shareholders favor long-run gains over short-term profitability. This ensures continued leadership in our industry.

Our owners also insist that Blick serve a positive role in society. While financial stability and profits are of great importance (Blick has never reported and annual loss in its almost-100-year-history), the owners recognize that our customer and employee communities must be considered in order to maintain a healthy organization.