I supose this is par for the course with COVID-19 -Henrys stores closed

[foc]

yep, I’m in Sonoma County. We’ve been in lockdown since early this week. I still have mail service and film is still showing up in the mail to be processed, and my amazon and ebay storefronts are still up and running, I called the city business licensing division in my city and asked them if I had to close and they said that I had to close to the public, but could continue to operate the parts of my business that I could do that did not require face to face interactions, so mailing out film people bought, and processing/scanning film are still on, but portraits, local film drop off/pickups, darkroom/studio rental, etc are off. It’s going to be this way for a while.

Unfortunately, many if not all of my suppliers have closed up shop, so once I’m sold out of what film I have on hand, that’s it unless I can find a source that is still open and willing to ship to me. Strangely enough, the rate at which that much of it has been selling at, I’ll be completely out of most of it by the end of the month. It’s bad enough that I’ve lost a significant chunk of income for the foreseeable future in not being able to take appointments, but once my stock runs out I effectively won’t have that income either.

Hopefully we’re only in lockdown for a few more weeks, otherwise this is going to really hurt for a lot of small business owners.

I understand your predicament and it is not easy for small businesses worldwide. For some, it could be the last straw.
Last Monday I had to make the decision to close my shop, minilab and online services and sales across all platforms and temporarily lay off staff. It was not a decision taken lightly but I did the maths and I had reached a point below my breakeven point. It was uneconomic for me to continue to operate.
There has been a moratorium on Vat (sales tax) and employer /employee taxes owed so I don't have to worry about that for the moment.
If the closure continues beyond 5 or 6 weeks then it looks like I will have to dump all C41 & RA4 tank chemicals and start afresh when we reopen.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

yep, I’m in Sonoma County. We’ve been in lockdown since early this week. I still have mail service and film is still showing up in the mail to be processed, and my amazon and ebay storefronts are still up and running, I called the city business licensing division in my city and asked them if I had to close and they said that I had to close to the public, but could continue to operate the parts of my business that I could do that did not require face to face interactions, so mailing out film people bought, and processing/scanning film are still on, but portraits, local film drop off/pickups, darkroom/studio rental, etc are off. It’s going to be this way for a while.

Unfortunately, many if not all of my suppliers have closed up shop, so once I’m sold out of what film I have on hand, that’s it unless I can find a source that is still open and willing to ship to me. Strangely enough, the rate at which that much of it has been selling at, I’ll be completely out of most of it by the end of the month. It’s bad enough that I’ve lost a significant chunk of income for the foreseeable future in not being able to take appointments, but once my stock runs out I effectively won’t have that income either.

Hopefully we’re only in lockdown for a few more weeks, otherwise this is going to really hurt for a lot of small business owners.

Can you order from suppliers directly in Japan or elsewhere? Even if you have to pay and charge more for film, or sell it at little profit, at least you'll keep your customers supplied so they stay with you and not drift to other competitors. Also, they would then be able to still send you film for processing so you can make sales from the back end of processing, scanning, etc. Good luck.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Can you order from suppliers directly in Japan or elsewhere? Even if you have to pay and charge more for film, or sell it at little profit, at least you'll keep your customers supplied so they stay with you and not drift to other competitors. Also, they would then be able to still send you film for processing so you can make sales from the back end of processing, scanning, etc. Good luck.

I’m sure I could, however, I’m operating in an environment that is very price sensitive and there are other sellers, so I can’t raise prices without losing sales, and I’d have to be extremely careful about how much it’d cost to get the film to me as that can *very quickly* eat all of your profits. Shipping isn’t free. Many people don’t realize this but by the time you get a product into your hands at home, it’s been shipped 3-4 times or more. Every single time that happens, there’s a cost associated with it. The key to getting good wholesale prices is to buy as direct as possible so the number of times it’s been shipped is reduced.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Yeah it's a tough situation. Good luck. Stay healthy.

 

[Henning Serger]

Hello Adrian,

Hopefully we’re only in lockdown for a few more weeks, otherwise this is going to really hurt for a lot of small business owners.

yes, I completely agree. There is a real danger especially for the small business owners. One part of my scientific analysing work is data analysing of the photo industry. And the data coming in lately is unfortunately very bad. Film production, film distribution and photo-lab operation has been all a low(est) margin business for many years, and most companies - especially the small ones - don't have big enough / sufficient financial resources / savings to overcome such a strong (maybe long) crisis we are facing now.
My fear is that some very well reputed companies - including labs - which have worked extremely hard in the last years for their customers and the film community and film revival may be knocked out in the coming weeks / months by the Corona crisis.

At least I will do all I can to support and help. Just this week I make a bigger order (which was originally planned for summer) of film and chemistry to help now and as soon as possible. I hope others will do that as well.

All the best to you and all the other very passionate lab-owners like Felim here, hopefully you all can survive this storm!

Best regards from Germany,
Henning

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Hello Adrian,



yes, I completely agree. There is a real danger especially for the small business owners. One part of my scientific analysing work is data analysing of the photo industry. And the data coming in lately is unfortunately very bad. Film production, film distribution and photo-lab operation has been all a low(est) margin business for many years, and most companies - especially the small ones - don't have big enough / sufficient financial resources / savings to overcome such a strong (maybe long) crisis we are facing now.
My fear is that some very well reputed companies - including labs - which have worked extremely hard in the last years for their customers and the film community and film revival may be knocked out in the coming weeks / months by the Corona crisis.

At least I will do all I can to support and help. Just this week I make a bigger order (which was originally planned for summer) of film and chemistry to help now and as soon as possible. I hope others will do that as well.

All the best to you and all the other very passionate lab-owners like Felim here, hopefully you all can survive this storm!

Best regards from Germany,
Henning

Many thanks. I've already started taking mitigation steps in acquiring other sources of income. This obviously takes time away from what I'd rather be doing, but, it's funds that I can at least use to bolster keeping the doors open. As long as I can pay the rent in my lab space and actually get exposed film and chemistry shipped to me, I can keep the doors open. Friday was the first day I saw a drop in how much film usually shows up for processing. We'll see how this week goes. I already know about the processing orders that were paid for online ahead of time for this upcoming week and they're down from where they usually are for a Sunday afternoon, but I also get a fair amount of film where it just shows up with my printable order form, so we'll see where that is when it happens.

 

[Ai Print]

There is a real danger especially for the small business owners. One part of my scientific analysing work is data analysing of the photo industry. And the data coming in lately is unfortunately very bad. Film production, film distribution and photo-lab operation has been all a low(est) margin business for many years, and most companies - especially the small ones - don't have big enough / sufficient financial resources / savings to overcome such a strong (maybe long) crisis we are facing now.
My fear is that some very well reputed companies - including labs - which have worked extremely hard in the last years for their customers and the film community and film revival may be knocked out in the coming weeks / months by the Corona crisis.

We were on such a good run and now this...

And since you made this post Henning, things have gotten even worse. If this crisis well exceeds that of the 2008-09 economic crash as it looks like it will....this could literally put film, paper and chemistry out of business. Personally I have enough film and even chemistry to last me the rest of my career. But paper is what I am short on, maybe a year or two worth if I work carefully.

If I can't source silver gel paper, I am SOL on what has been an enormous investment, a truly sobering thought.

I'm deeply concerned.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

We were on such a good run and now this...

And since you made this post Henning, things have gotten even worse. If this crisis well exceeds that of the 2008-09 economic crash as it looks like it will....this could literally put film, paper and chemistry out of business. Personally I have enough film and even chemistry to last me the rest of my career. But paper is what I am short on, maybe a year or two worth if I work carefully.

If I can't source silver gel paper, I am SOL on what has been an enormous investment, a truly sobering thought.

I'm deeply concerned.

I just spent thousand on a new 4x5 camera, lenses etc. I just hope I stay healthy enough to use any camera I have what with this virus going on. I'll be just thankful for that.

 

[Peter Schrager]

just purchased $500 worth of film from B+H in New York....every little bit helps but I figured if this goes on for a while then at least I have film!!
I do coat my own paper for POP prints so no problem there!!

 

[Ai Print]

just purchased $500 worth of film from B+H in New York....every little bit helps but I figured if this goes on for a while then at least I have film!!
I do coat my own paper for POP prints so no problem there!!

I put in an order for paper last week and now today totaling about $3K. I now should have about a 12-18 month supply depending on how well I manage it, time to really get those paper calibrations into my RH Designs Zonemaster I guess.

I just read on Ilford's Facebook page that they are shutting down production effective 4/1 until further notice. They are most concerned about employee health even though the government says they can proceed with production. They also cited "Over recent weeks, in anticipation of this, we increased manufacture of our most popular products, so our warehouse is well stocked in order to meet demand." although they cite supply chains could become disrupted as things progress.

I'm gong to put some more things up for sale today and see if I can buy more paper, not sure how to coat my own paper at this time.

 

[Wallendo]

Dwayne's Photo is closed for April. TheDarkRoom.com is apparently still open but somewhat limited. Fortunately, I have about a year supply of film and B&W chemicals, so I should be OK. I just don't know what to do about E-6 development in the short term.
I had picked up extra film and supplies for a trip to Florida I won't be making any time soon. And there are only so many pictures I can make of my back yard and neighborhood.

 

[R.Gould]

all bricks and mortar photo shops are closed until for the duration of our lock down over here, but they pretty much all have on line shops and they are open as normal, some with delays as the staff are operating remptely

 

[Agulliver]

Since I last wrote to this thread the UK has of course instigated what I would call a "partial lockdown" though many people are screaming "LOCKDOWN!!". We don't yet need paperwork or ID in order to leave the house. All places of entertainment and anything other than essential shops (food, pet food, pharmacy, DIY/hardware, newsagents) are enforcably closed. Police can and do ask people to stop gathering in groups of more than two and have the power to ask people where they're going and why - this is not usually the case here at all and special laws were passed. Thankfully these will self-destruct in a maximum of two years. It's necessary, if a necessary evil...for the time being....to get the spread of the virus under control. I saw the police shut down a hand car wash a few days ago - quite correct in these circumstances.

Of course that means my oft-mentioned Luton Camera Repairs shop is closed. As the staff don't live very near the shop they've decided not to continue with mail order for the time being. I've been in contact with Jane who does the film processing and she's confident they will re-open when permitted. She's even offered to hand deliver me film if I want to buy any though I shall probably wait.

I am fortunate that not 30 seconds from my front door is a wooded area and a grass path lined with lovely trees. I can take my "government sanctioned constitutional walk" there every morning and encounter fewer humans than I do birds. People are observing the two metre rule and it's quite lovely to be able to go out for a bit of a walk among the trees and birds. Sometimes I take a camera with me, varying B&W film, colour film and digital. So I'll have a handful of C41 films for her to develop when she's able to re open.

Tough times if shops are still expected to pay rent/mortgage/business rates. I hope everyone here who runs a camera shop or processing lab is able to get back into operation when restrictions are lifted.

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

Agulliver, your post expresses my current experience and sentiments more or less exactly (well, I've no access here to any local services; but that's minor in the circumstances).

 

[Prest_400]

We were on such a good run and now this...

And since you made this post Henning, things have gotten even worse. If this crisis well exceeds that of the 2008-09 economic crash as it looks like it will....this could literally put film, paper and chemistry out of business. Personally I have enough film and even chemistry to last me the rest of my career. But paper is what I am short on, maybe a year or two worth if I work carefully.

If I can't source silver gel paper, I am SOL on what has been an enormous investment, a truly sobering thought.

I'm deeply concerned.

The situation easily becomes overwhelming and thinking too much about systemic implications, I just don't do. Living by blocks of few days. In optimistic cases, by a couple months there may be an improvement overall and ease of the lockdowns (at least); but at worst it could get very ugly. It is already taking a heavy toll on many.

I ordered some B&W film as I had nothing in 35mm, and used the occasion to replenish a bit my 120. Mostly Ilford made, it was quite foreseeable that production would halt given the lockdowns. I've got well enough color film that I didn't really plan to shoot and/or develop soon. I did want to shoot some cherry blossoms in the city but due to the virus spreading it's just best practice to stay local at home. Sweden, where I am living, is the only EU country IIRC that has not implemented lockdowns although activity has clearly slowed down and distanced. Am still able to go out to nature and have a very limited contact with some trusted people.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

So my wife and I refuse now to even go to shop for food. We're in New Jersey close to NYC and it's pretty bad in NJ as well. We'll have to make due with what we have. We're trying to order delivery but it's impossible to get anything delivered our home. They must be swamped with calls. We're trying to take it a day at a time and pray everything will be OK. What else can you do?

 

[R.Gould]

Since I last wrote to this thread the UK has of course instigated what I would call a "partial lockdown" though many people are screaming "LOCKDOWN!!". We don't yet need paperwork or ID in order to leave the house. All places of entertainment and anything other than essential shops (food, pet food, pharmacy, DIY/hardware, newsagents) are enforcably closed. Police can and do ask people to stop gathering in groups of more than two and have the power to ask people where they're going and why - this is not usually the case here at all and special laws were passed. Thankfully these will self-destruct in a maximum of two years. It's necessary, if a necessary evil...for the time being....to get the spread of the virus under control. I saw the police shut down a hand car wash a few days ago - quite correct in these circumstances.

Of course that means my oft-mentioned Luton Camera Repairs shop is closed. As the staff don't live very near the shop they've decided not to continue with mail order for the time being. I've been in contact with Jane who does the film processing and she's confident they will re-open when permitted. She's even offered to hand deliver me film if I want to buy any though I shall probably wait.

I am fortunate that not 30 seconds from my front door is a wooded area and a grass path lined with lovely trees. I can take my "government sanctioned constitutional walk" there every morning and encounter fewer humans than I do birds. People are observing the two metre rule and it's quite lovely to be able to go out for a bit of a walk among the trees and birds. Sometimes I take a camera with me, varying B&W film, colour film and digital. So I'll have a handful of C41 films for her to develop when she's able to re open.

Tough times if shops are still expected to pay rent/mortgage/business rates. I hope everyone here who runs a camera shop or processing lab is able to get back into operation when restrictions are lifted.

We also are in partial lockdown,allowed out for 2 hours per day, but we are allowed to drive to and from beaches Etc for dai;y exorcise, shopping or medical reasons's and prety much everything is shut down, only food shops,diy pharmacy's are open, o more than 2 people and police have been given powers to break larger groups up, initialy for 4 weeks, but who knows, all building sites close on friday, buses are still runing but very much reduced services,no taxis, but this will pass in time and hopefully we will all come out the other end stronger
I hopeyou all keep well

 

[MattKing]

For us, some of the best local parks which would otherwise be a good choice for "social distancing" walks have had their parking lots closed because too many people were trying to use them.
We are within walking distance of places to buy necessities like groceries, but shopping there is quite surreal and hit and miss with respect to product availability.
We can order pizza from two places that I would otherwise walk to for pick-up, but their systems are limited to delivery plus leave at the door.

 

[cmacd123]

We can order pizza from two places that I would otherwise walk to for pick-up, but their systems are limited to delivery plus leave at the door.

I have received several e-mails from the local Pizza chain who have set up for delivery ONLY (although they will do pickup on a call in from the parking lot and and we will bring your order to the curb basis) and request you use their Flat Fone app to order and pre-pay with a debit or credit card. https://gabrielpizza.com/

 

[jtk]

... restaurants are still open for curbside pickup here in New Mexico...mail and UPS still on the job. We're opening two formerly shuttered hospitals etc etc. We have 2 Air Force bases and nobody has mentioned them as vectors yet. We are blessed with huge barren desert wilderness here but like everywhere hikers are a minority. The adjoining Navajo Nation is half a million widely scattered and mostly with no running water. Just received a letter from a 9th grade Navajo girl expressing fear...most Navajo are cursed with TV and no intelligent media.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

... restaurants are still open for curbside pickup here in New Mexico...mail and UPS still on the job. We're opening two formerly shuttered hospitals etc etc. We have 2 Air Force bases and nobody has mentioned them as vectors yet. We are blessed with huge barren desert wilderness here but like everywhere hikers are a minority. The adjoining Navajo Nation is half a million widely scattered and mostly with no running water. Just received a letter from a 9th grade Navajo girl expressing fear...most Navajo are cursed with TV and no intelligent media.

I never realized how big Navajo land is. My wife and I did a auto tour of the Southwest National Parks. Our first leg was from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Monument Valley that border Arizona and Utah via the Four Corners and past Shiprock. It was around 380 ,miles of mostly dry high desert area, all own by them except fo occasional small towns. Monument Valley, also owner by the Navajo was great. They had a beautiful motel we stayed out overlooking the valley. It had great breakfasts and dinners but no alcohol on Navajo land is allowed. I remember see round plots of land that were watered from storage tanks I believe and used for farming. But these were very few.

 

[Agulliver]

We've had problems in England with people flocking to beauty spots and beaches, hence the increased "lockdown" rules 10 days ago. We're now only supposed to take exercise locally, and travel of any significant distance for other than essential reasons is prohibited. For example I won't be upset if I am questioned when driving to another town on Saturday to pick up medication from the pharmacy for my mother who is self-isolating with her partner not far from where I live. It's only 10 minutes on the motorway but it's not obvious what my purpose of travel is. I believe it's still OK to drive to a local park, for example if one lives in a part of town where the parks aren't walking distance away. But driving a significant distance to get to a park, beach or other beauty spot is now forbidden.

As of now the biggest outbreaks in England are London and around the big cities in the Midlands. Just 20 miles out of London in Luton, itself a sizeable town, we have very few cases and the local hospital is coping easily. I am grateful that just over two weeks ago my employers listened when I said that I am part time care giver to two people with health conditions which put them in the "extremely vulnerable" category and pretty much insisted I stop travelling into London to work. I am one of the lucky ones, they send me stuff to do from home on occasion and I am on full pay until we're able to re-open. As I work in a school that could easily be September. My wife has been working at her finance job in Luton but will be working from home from Monday. They've finally given her the necessary equipment to access the system remotely.

Regarding shopping, most people are are still going to large supermarkets on the weekend. As per social distancing rules the supermarkets are only allowing a designated number of people in at any time and large queues of people roughly 2 metres apart form outside. Not ideal but necessary for the foreseeable future and it will help stop the disease spreading. Online delivery slots for the six supermarket chains who offer it are pretty much unavailable as they're all booked up into May. But we were extremely lucky last night, one supermarket opened up slots as we happened to be browsing their website and we have a delivery this afternoon. Shopping for three households right now - ourselves, my mum and her partner and an "extremely vulnerable" couple across town. Some supermarkets are instigating a "one person per household, one trolley only" policy for their physical stores....we're shopping for six people now! And keeping an eye on our neighbour who has Parkinson's...right now she's happy to venture out every day and walk to the local shops about 15 minutes away but she has good days and bad days....we've made it clear we'll shop for her too if she needs. I mowed her lawn last week as she's been unable to for three years now.

Regarding photography...thankfully that is not yet forbidden and I've been carrying an Olumpus Mju 1 around with me to document the changes....the closed pubs, with signs thanking customers for staying home....notices regarding social distancing...queues...empty roads which are usually busy....it's quite surreal. Also I am lucky with the woods/green area almost on my doorstep and sometimes take a camera on my daily walk.

 

[jtk]

I never realized how big Navajo land is. My wife and I did a auto tour of the Southwest National Parks. Our first leg was from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Monument Valley that border Arizona and Utah via the Four Corners and past Shiprock. It was around 380 ,miles of mostly dry high desert area, all own by them except fo occasional small towns. Monument Valley, also owner by the Navajo was great. They had a beautiful motel we stayed out overlooking the valley. It had great breakfasts and dinners but no alcohol on Navajo land is allowed. I remember see round plots of land that were watered from storage tanks I believe and used for farming. But these were very few.

Navajo Nation doesn't like roadblocks but has just officially asked other people, such as tourists, to stay away.
The Pueblo people won't have the same aversion to roadblocks ..they have always done them selectively.

Most Navajo kids have always faced long school bus rides, some up to 2 hrs each way daily. I suspect that ride has become a virus problem, thereby an education and cultural crisis.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Los Angeles has ordered all food store to reserve the first hour of business each day to seniors and health impaired. Everyone seems to accept that without question.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

We have the same thing here in NJ. It's to protect the elderly since there the ones who are mostly dying from the virus.