Menifee businesses offer unique shopping opportunities
MENIFEE, Calif. — For more than 30 years Doug Hartwick has been a part of the art scene, but not with photos or paintings or sculptures. Instead, Hartwick, who owns Mom and Pop’s Frame Shop in Menifee, works behind the scenes providing framing services for a variety of artists from all over the world.
“I frame anything anyone brings in, anywhere from toilet paper to priceless artwork,” Hartwick said, adding that toilet paper was the oddest thing he had ever framed.
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“Her husband was in World War II; she traveled with him and whenever they went to a different country, she would take a little square of paper and write the date on it,” he explained. “So, she brought in this box of toilet paper and it had all of the dates on it wherever they were around the world … It was pretty cool.” Hartwick said that he has been in business at his Menifee location at 29800 Bradley Road, Ste. 108 for 19 years.
“I was the first tenant here,” he said.
Hartwick said that he loves what he does, not just because it gives him a chance to be creative, he creates frames from scratch, but because people come in with their artwork and other items, sharing their stories. “They bring in whatever they have, and I make it look as pretty as I can.” he said.
Mom and Pop’s Frame Shop owner Doug Hartwick poses with some of the artwork he has framed, the store has been a Menifee staple for more than two decades. Courtesy photo
Hartwick is just one of the many people who own businesses in Menifee, offering a particular service that can be difficult to find anywhere else in the city. Hartwick is not alone though. Menifee Bicycles Inc. owner, Craig Cooper, is yet another innovative business owner in the city.
Cooper, a Los Angeles County native has owned Menifee Bicycles for 39 years.
“My dad and I built one of the first homes in Canyon Lake in 1973 ourselves because we couldn’t afford to pay someone to do it,” Cooper said.
Cooper said that he was an avid cycler and saw a need so he and his father, who knew nothing about bicycles, opened Sun City Bikes and Televisions where the elder Mr. Cooper fixed televisions and Cooper himself sold bicycles.
“That was his forte,” Cooper explained.
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Menifee Bicycles Inc., at 26100 Newport Road Ste. A20, carries a wide variety of bicycles from BMX bikes to mountain bikes and racing bikes. The shop also carries cycling gear and does bicycle repair, Cooper said. “We do all facets of the bicycle industry at the retail level,” he said. “Sales, service, parts.”
Cooper said that there are a million reasons he does what he does, but that his mission is to get people on bicycles for health reasons or to give them a reason to spend time with their families and even to create a lifelong passion.
“You can see the elation on a kid’s face after he’s been locked up in the house, then that kid gets a bike and you see his face and it brings tears to your eyes,” he said.
For Cooper, a Quail Valley resident, who is at retirement age, it’s about bringing joy into people’s lives. Shopping local not only supports other residents and neighbors, but it also keeps tax dollars in the community, which benefits everyone in the city, Menifee Economic Development Director Gina Gonzalez said.
Craig Cooper, owner of Menifee Bicycles, Inc. shows off some of the bicycles in his shop. Courtesy photo
“There are far-reaching advantages to shopping local—shopping Menifee” Gonzalez said. “When we support our local businesses, we in turn support our local economy—where the revenue from sales taxes are then turned into vital services, programs, and projects in Menifee, which ultimately affect each of our family’s quality of life.”
To help keep residents shopping local, the City of Menifee Economic Development Department is offering a new Shop Local Holiday Bingo program in partnership with the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce. “People can get a bingo-style card that they take around to any Menifee retail business,” Gonzalez explained. “Shoppers attach their receipts to it and when they get five in a row, they can drop off their completed bingo cards at the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce, along with accompanying receipts, to receive an exclusive free Menifee Forward tote and be entered to win a raffle basket, valued at over $500.”
The City is also continuing its #MeniFREEwards, to encourage patrons to shop local in Menifee, and support Menifee’s local eateries who have been hit hard financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When a patron dines at a Menifee eatery and they ‘share’ it on Facebook, the Menifee Economic
Development Department will reward them with a $10 MeniFREEward for every $20 they spend on each order,” Gonzalez said. “If you spend $60 you can get $30 back.”
Participating eateries change daily and can be found on Menifee’s social media pages.
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Gonzalez said patrons do have to spend a minimum of $30 so she recommends single diners or those who wouldn’t normally spend that minimum amount buy a gift card to reach that reward level. It is a great bargain, and it helps our local businesses.
Gonzalez says that shopping local in Menifee not only includes the small “mom and pop” shops.
“I always like to remind people that mom and pop shops don’t all look the same,” she said. “Just because it’s called Firehouse Subs, it may be a national brand or a franchised brand, but it’s owned by a mom and pop. They are local people who actually put their life savings into opening a business and running it. If you go into that store, you will see them working it. Many national chain stores are owned by local people who pay their rent like the rest of us do and that is important to understand and why we all should support who we can.”
For more information on the new SHOP LOCAL HOLIDAY BINGO program, or about starting a business in the city of Menifee, please visit www.menifeebusiness.com, www.menifeeforward.com, or call (951) 672-6777.
Submitted by City of Menifee
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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.