I've dealt with both Todd & Tony since they worked together at University Camera, even before they were on Guess Road. I guess that's almost close to 20 yrs ago...I've never had a problem with either of them, but like most people, they have their own ways. The split, on one hand came as a surprise, otoh, not so much of a surprise.
I think you can see it in the stock of the 2 stores (or one against 5 maybe?). Tony came from a pj background, and went on to a commercial lab and resulted in him buying a local (c-hill) lab and incorporating it into his store there. Todd is more of a collector, and was never really the business end of that original store. The differences were clear if you frequented the store enough, or knew any of the folks who work (or worked) there as I do. I think the split was good in many ways, because it let both parties go out and pursue their ways.
I find it ironic though, that SEC would return to Raleigh with so little darkroom stock, when Tony is a lab guy heart. Even moreso than many of the guys who work at Peace---only there's not market in that really now.
What I find with Peace is that, although many of the folks can be highly opinionated (but so am I, so this is no big deal), they know what they're talking about. They're more than enthusiasts or salesmen, they are shooters and printers. A lot of what you find stocked on the shelves is there, because someone on staff likes it and wants to shoot it, process with it etc. Those guys have worked in labs and studios in town as well as shot freelance and worked at local papers. Like most camera stores, they are haunted with regulars, and they have a gruff sort of "club" atmosphere at times, which may be a turnoff for some, but then again--I still shoot film and use paper and like being able to find it and talk to someone who gives a damn about it. They don't pad out purchases with crap you don't need, and if you're looking for some esoteric lab product, you can find someone who knows what you're talking about.
I went into the new SEC here in town, and asked the guy where all the paper was, or whether they had any pro dealerships with Kodak, Fuji etc--since I like to buy US, not gray--and he told me "nobody uses that stuff anymore". To which I replied, "I do--I do it for a living".
So it depends--we recently bought a couple of water panel rebuild kits from them since they deal with our purchasing system. It requires the vendor to kick back 1.7% of the sale...to tell you the truth, we deal with both stores very little for work--most of it is for personal--work, we deal with Camcor and other larger stores because the contracts are at prices below wholesale and the smaller stores will lose money. the bigger stores even lose money sometimes. before they split, I think they thought about pursuing the contract, but frankly there's no way either store(s) could handle the volume or the customer service required. Camcor and the others can, because that is about all they really do. They have the sales staff, the demo studios and equipment etc. But as a walk-in store, they're nothing compared to either SEC or Peace....
it's a tough business.
I like both owners--and have dealt with them for years, I'd like to see both prosper to be honest. I don't see them as being the same really. But then again, if someone on staff is having a bad day or is an a**hole, I don't let that get to me, since I'm surrounded with people like that everyday and have worked retail myself, and have had my share of customers that I wanted to throttle. That's just life. Customer's always right.
oh, btw--the stock continues to grow and has turned over continuously. they managed to ditchh the army surplus container stuffed with broken enlargers and other weird stuff (and gave away quite a bit of it). they have probably more film cameras and darkroom stuff than any of the SEC stores, unless you go back into the storage areas and get into the lab stuff like roller processors etc.)
KT
