Camera Store from long ago.

[Poisson Du Jour]

What a wonderful, memorable, truly nostalgic era that was. And we're still around to reflect on it. Marvellous!

 

[benjiboy]

What a wonderful, memorable, truly nostalgic era that was. And we're still around to reflect on it. Marvellous!

Yes I'm still around, and pleased to have survived beyond retirement, in spite of the customers. :rolleyes:

 

[lxdude]

Reminds me of a local retailer called Fedco. I started out buying all of my photo equipment there as a teen in the mid 60's. It was staffed by retired pro's who taught me a great deal about the passion I still have. Good memories.

I remember it well. Membership store. You had to work for the government in some form or for gummint supplier or contractor. I bought all my Kodachrome mailers there because they were significantly less expensive. The photo department had knowledgeable people in it and a nice variety of stuff.
Fedco stores had everything, housewares to groceries. And they had nice stuff-not junk. Always busy.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I remember it well. Membership store. You had to work for the government in some form or for gummint supplier or contractor. I bought all my Kodachrome mailers there because they were significantly less expensive. The photo department had knowledgeable people in it and a nice variety of stuff.
Fedco stores had everything, housewares to groceries. And they had nice stuff-not junk. Always busy.

Fedco kept opening its membership. At one point if you got a check from the US Government or paid taxes, you could be come a member.

Steve

 

[lxdude]

I remember hearing something about that, now that you mention it. I was no longer in SoCal then, so didn't see it happen. I guess they had to, with competition becoming a reality.
Sort of like Geico, I guess, where it started as Gummint Employees Ins. Co.

 

[Marvin]

Since I started this thread and age came up I will be 63 in about a month. I have enjoyed photography all my life. I started with a Brownie that cost $6.00 and I didn't have that much as a kid I put it on layaway until I got it paid for. First 35mm was a Kodak Retinette made in Germany and it made many memorable pictures. I still have that Kodak 35mm and my mothers Brownie Hawkeye that was used to make family photos. For those of you with concerns about 40 I did it 23 years ago and it didn't hurt a bit.

 

[benjiboy]

Well I agree with Ben, the customers can be very trying and wreck your head sometimes.

Maybe there is another thread here, anecdotes about "those" customers. I often think that you could write a book about it! Now there's a challange.

By the way Ben the Praktica super tl was a great little camera, especially for those of us that didn't have the budget for an expensive big brand camera.

"Very trying" I thought we British were supposed to be the masters of understatement , I used to think sometimes the more I saw of the customers the more I believed in vivisection, or euthanasia

 

[j-dogg]

Ah the golden age of photography.....there is one photo store here I frequent from time to time. I should get a fisheye sometime.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Back then a customer would take up your time to learn about a camera so they could make their choice. Then drive across town or across the state to save $5. Later when they had a question or a problem they would come back!

Steve

 

[Hexavalent]

What a wonderful image. **Sigh** Simpler times.

There was probably a tube-tester in such a shop, or in a nearby drug store.

 

[benjiboy]

Back then a customer would take up your time to learn about a camera so they could make their choice. Then drive across town or across the state to save $5. Later when they had a question or a problem they would come back!

Steve

The general public have now got their wish Steve with these sort of practices , the good camera stores with knowledgeable staff have all but disappeared and what's left are firms either bricks and mortar, or on line that sell boxes, so whose brains can customers pick now ? I'm very glad to retired and out of it.

 

[fotch]

Sad but true. When the local camera store went belly up in the eighties, I hired one of the principals for my office equipment and supply store and set up a camera department to help him liquidate his inventory. I had a very large building.

The young man was a bachelor and wanted to see the world so after he left I continued the camera department and expanded it. Although I could of been a Canon and a Nikon dealer, after seeing the extremely poor margins, thought, why bother. I can make as much money by not selling them. I ended up buying and selling used cameras, which of course, was profitable. However, the real profit for a camera store came from photo finishing.

Then years later, when Walgreen s came to town, the wholesale photo-finisher, cut us off. It seems we still had to much business and they wanted to funnel more the the mass merchandise. It seems that because we could advise customers, being more knowledgeable about picture taking, was something the other store could not do. In Illinois, there is or was little protection from vendors doing this, unlike Wisconsin, which offers more protection. Oh well, it was fun, and profitable, as long is it lasted it.

 

[benjiboy]

1973 doesn't seem to be all that long ago to me when I think back, but It's a good thing I don't work in camera shops any more I know absolutely nothing about digital imaging, the only digital photographic things I own are light meters.

 

[blockend]

I know absolutely nothing about digital imaging, the only digital photographic things I own are light meters.

Digital is the best thing that ever happened to photography. It made film cameras much more affordable.

 

[Andrew K]

I guess things are a bit different here in Australia. I live in Melbourne (capital city of Victoria - population about 3.5 million)....

My local (outer suburban) camera store still stocks film, paper and chemisty for black and white. Not as much as they did 20 years ago when I first got to know them..but it's there on the shelf....

And they are not an isolated case - the next independant camera store which is about 5km away also stocks paper and chemistry....

I've asked both stores why they stock film, paper etc - and both have the same answer - because people know they stock it and come to them to buy what they need....

It's not like when I first worked in a camera store - it was the mid 80's, and I got a part time job working in a small camera shop in Box Hill part time on the odd weekend...The store was tiny - maybe 15 X 15 ft, but they stocked everything from film (I can remember selling fresh 127 and 620 Kodacolour film, and 8mm movie) to paper (Ilford and Agfa mostly - maybe the odd box of Kodak) through to cameras and accessories. Filters of every size, tripods, bags - you name it. The store had been going over 25 years, and they had many old customers...

I can even remember one lovely old dear - who used to come in and get a replacement film for her camera, and of course - the store would load the replacement film into her camera for her..

Even though she's had the camera for over 20 years, she had never learn't how to load her Box Brownie......

It may not be the same today...but it still happens. Its just that instead of replacing a film a customer needs to be shown where the memory card is in their camera......

 

[benjiboy]

Some of my former customers are still friends who I have kept in touch with who I still see often.

 

[Chriscc123]

Back then a customer would take up your time to learn about a camera so they could make their choice. Then drive across town or across the state to save $5. Later when they had a question or a problem they would come back!

Steve

they still do that...

 

[benjiboy]

they still do that...

They will soon not be able to when all the proper photographic stores have ceased trading and only online and electrical retailers sell cameras, I live in a city with a population of 700,00 and there are only two camera shops still trading, one a branch of a big multiple retailer that only sell digital gear, and the other a small family owned Professional dealer.

 

[foc]

And if Moses would have turned left in the desert instead of right the Irish would have all the oil, and the Arabs would have all the potatoes

I always knew we just missed out!!

I remember customers that came in to have the film taken out of their camera and we would load a new one. I even got asked once for a Kojak film.

But some habits don't die. Even with digital cameras we still get people that come into the shop and ask us to take out the memory card and print from it and put the card back in. And when you think about it, these people don't want to know how a camera works they just want their photos. And they will use a camera shop that will help them rather than a selfservice machine in a large store.

The population of the Rep of Ireland is 3.5 million approx, and most large towns or cities have a selection of camera shops so we are lucky. (but it doesn't make up for the oil!)

 

[benjiboy]

I always knew we just missed out!!

I remember customers that came in to have the film taken out of their camera and we would load a new one. I even got asked once for a Kojak film.

But some habits don't die. Even with digital cameras we still get people that come into the shop and ask us to take out the memory card and print from it and put the card back in. And when you think about it, these people don't want to know how a camera works they just want their photos. And they will use a camera shop that will help them rather than a selfservice machine in a large store.

The population of the Rep of Ireland is 3.5 million approx, and most large towns or cities have a selection of camera shops so we are lucky. (but it doesn't make up for the oil!)

I must admit foc I was the manager of photography shops for more than twenty years but have no idea where the memory card goes in a digital SLR, because I have no interest in them, in fact I've never even touched one, I'm very happy with the analogue equipment I have, and have no desire to have to learn photography all over again.

 

[LUKE 221]

I remember when a camera would last you 20 years or more. Nowadays seems like every two years the young people have to have the latest gee-whizz 4000 model and constantly upgrade. How many people do you know still shooting with a 2 megapixel camera? It will reach a climax if it hasnt already. The camera manufacturers much like the Television and home electronics people, have found a way to convince the consumer to shell out big bucks every 3-5 years instead of every 20 years. Ever wonder why so many people live paycheck to paycheck and have huge amounts of debt. In some ways we as the consumer have allowed this to happen.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Another thread back from the grave.

I take it that you slept through the SLR feature wars of the mid-70s to early 90s.

 

[mopar_guy]

Welcome to APUG.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Luke 221 welcome to APUG

Stick around and we will first pull you in to building your own darkroom. Then you will learn the detail ability and wonders of MF. Once you have purchased and use the MF equipment we will draw you into 4x5. At that point you will be doomed to migrate to larger and larger formats as you spend your way into oblivion. :devil:

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Yes, welcome to APUG. Love the advertisement!

Does it have a date?

A used Rolleiflex 2.8F for $429.50?
A new Makina 6x7 for $549.90?

Ahhh...



Ken