Art supply retailer serving professional and amateur artists since 1911
Blick Art Materials operates a 1,001–5,000-person retail chain anchored on sales-floor hiring (84 roles open across stores) supported by legacy enterprise systems (ADP, Dayforce, PeopleSoft, AS/400). The pain-point mix—shrink control, inventory management, freight billing, shipping compliance—reflects operational complexity typical of distributed retail, not a digital-first transformation. No adopting or replacing tech signals a stable, maintenance-focused infrastructure posture.
Blick Art Materials is a family-owned art supply retailer headquartered in Highland Park, Illinois, serving professional artists, educators, architects, designers, students, and hobbyists. Founded in 1911, the company operates through physical retail locations and web channels (dickblick.com), with an extended selection of paint, drawing, canvas, sculpture, framing, and specialty art materials. The organization scales through a sales-heavy staffing model focused on customer-facing store operations, supported by centralized finance, logistics, and custom services teams. Current priorities center on loss prevention, inventory control, freight accuracy, and associate training.
Blick uses ADP, Dayforce, PeopleSoft, and Kronos for HR and payroll; AS/400 for core backend systems; Microsoft Office, Outlook, and Excel for operations; Adobe Creative Suite for marketing; and Windows/macOS for endpoints.
Blick Art Materials is headquartered in Highland Park, Illinois, and is a privately held company founded in 1911.
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