not a person, but a place ..

[removed account4]

i wasn't sure where to put this thread, but in the "in memoriam" thread seemed like a good place.

not to be a total drag, but photo stores that have come and gone
deserve a place to be listed. i know there have been handfuls of photo stores i have gone to
over the years, and now ... well, they are just a memory.

maybe just the name and location and a little c-ya would be fitting in this thread ..

 

[removed account4]

general photo in boston, on canal street in boston

near the north end, by north station.
they had great service and stocks of paper

i used to buy a lot of ilford and agfa film and paper from them ...

adler's photo in providence ri

was a 3rd generation shop .. on orange street, near the arcade building.
great service and staff that really knew their stuff!
they had a full b/w lab lab upstairs and made 16x20s+20x24 prints
and when i used to photograph little league teams they did custom custom work
and a great job. i bought my adams retouching desk from one of the people who worked there.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Coopers Camera Mart in Baltimore. They were an old-fashioned customer-focused camera store, and were family owned from 1947 to the early 2000's. They got bought up by Penn Camera, and then closed down when the minilab market died, and Penn Camera started facing financial difficulties. I learned the trade working there in the mid 90s.

 

[zsas]

All those Wolf/Ritz shops

 

[chip j]

Progressive Photo in Youngstown (and at one time, 2 other stores nearby). John started the store w/his older brother when he was still a Navy photographer in the early 50's(took an official shot of Esienhower). Was a Leica dealer and I bought 2 used Valoys and a used Focomat 1c from him. Also a pradovit RC slide projecter. He had B&W chemicals that were exotic for this area. He sold me a new Contax G1, saying it was "better than the Leica in every way". He just retired about 4 yrs ago. He also inroduced me to the Komuranon S 50mm 3.5 enlarging lens in 1980, and I've been under it's spell to this day.

 

[Truzi]

Loomis Camera in Elyria, Ohio.

It was around far longer than I have been. Started in the 50s and closed in September 2012.

My first time there was in the eight grade for a "mini course" in photography. We learned to develop film, make prints, and bump our heads on tables in the dark. (Actually, I'm the only one in the course to hit their head.)
I wasn't a "regular" customer, but patronized them through high school and my undergrad, and also for the past few years. The same two guys were there as long as I can remember, always very friendly and helpful.

The store's sign was iconic in Elyria. When the city changed it's sign code, effectively outlawing the sign, there was a petition drive and the store was grandfathered in.
The sign was moved to a sign museum shortly before the store closed. The following link to the sign museum has copy from an Elyria-Chronicle Telegram newspaper story on the store closing.
http://www.signmuseum.org/loomiscamera/

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Not gone yet but terminal apparently. First Look Photo in Hagerstown MD is slated to close in August. Damn.

 

[blansky]

I have a feeling this is going to be a long thread.

 

[Kokoro]

Celic Camera Centre in Bridgend, South Wales, closed recently. I only found out when I tried to go there and it was shut up and empty.

 

[jumbosilverette]

In Los Angeles (those I can remember)...

Semler's Camera (Miracle Mile)
Campus Camera (Westwood)
Morgan's Camera (Hollywood)
Camera Craft (North Hollywood)
Studio City Camera (Studio City)
Miko Camera (Santa Monica)
Jack's Camera Exchange (Beverly Hills)
Pan Pacific Camera (Hollywood)
...there are so many more, really a pity

 

[benjiboy]

there must be tens of thousands of camera stores Worldwide that have ceased trading in the last fifteen years since photography became a handmaiden of the computer industry.

 

[bsdunek]

The Camera Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Had a wonderful supply of used equipment as well as a very complete selection of new equipment and darkroom supplies.

 

[Samuel Hotton]

Campkins Camera Exchange on Kings Parade in Cambridge England. Owned by Mr. Tom Howell. Leica, Rollei, and Zeiss everywhere. parts, lenses, Aerial cameras , stereo cameras, Tropical cameras. You name it , he had it. I even met Lord Snowdon in there purchasing a Tropical. I am proud to have known Mr. Howell for over twenty years, he has passed on now. God bless you sir, you taught me much and shared even more.
Sam Hotton

 

[lxdude]

Empire Camera in Redlands, Ca. Some years back now, Redlands Camera. And as mentioned earlier, Miko in Santa Monica.

 

[benjiboy]

Jessops, but unfortunately they came back

 

[M Stat]

In Pasadena, California:
Alvins, Flags, Lee Mac

 

[M Stat]

I forgot to mention Reed"s Cameras in Pasadena.

 

[agnosticnikon]

The Camera Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Had a wonderful supply of used equipment as well as a very complete selection of new equipment and darkroom supplies.

I'm from Grand Rapids originally, and noticed the closing of this fun place the last time I visited. I also miss Arden's Photo as this was one of my favorite stores too. Hopefully some day people will tire of buying equipment "sight unseen" and start supporting brick and mortar stores again. (not holding my breath)

 

[benjiboy]

The general public in their quest for ever cheaper prices who have put the friendly local bricks and mortar camera stores out of business, have now got the camera retailers they deserve on line, and now they wonder where they've gone, and don't like it.

 

[Black Dog]

Thankfully Silverprint and Mr Cad are still very much with us though! No trip to London is complete for me without a visit to Silverprint before getting the train home from Waterloo...

 

[removed account4]

king arthur photo
providence later in cranston ri
i bought a 90mm schneider lens i still use
from them in around 1985, also bought a yashica 124matG that i loved.
arthur at this point was old and lost his sight, his son and wife were there too.

i often times drive by where the store was and think of the long conversations i had with him
his shop was 4+decades old.

 

[kintatsu]

Studio Perras in Parsberg.
Herr Perras was always willing to talk with anyone who had questions! He often provided advice and tips for the price of a few minutes conversation, conversation that was quite enjoyable.

 

[Steve Goldstein]

Metropolitan Photo in Providence, RI. I bought my first real camera there - a Pentax H1a - and a lot of Kodak chemistry and Agfa paper during my high-school years. I'm not sure when they disappeared, I never went back after I left for college.

And I'll second Adler's, I got my first light meter there, a Minolta (or was it Miranda) Cadius II, purchased on layaway.

 

[EdSawyer]

River's camera in Dover NH. Family -run business, finally closed maybe 4-5 years ago, even though they survived the digital transition.

Hovey's photo in Portsmouth NH. They were the go-to place for basically everything, esp. darkroom supplies. They closed before River's did, not sure why, as they were bigger.

 

[Christopher Nisperos]

The "all large format" store in Paris, LE GRAND FORMAT, closed late last year. I believe that it was unique in Europe. Its manager and only employee, Daniel Gadat, had previously worked at the famous CIPIERRE PHOTO, which, itself, had closed about twenty years ago (nothing to do with digital, just some rumored bad management by a son who had taken it over). CIPIERRE had been the oldest continually run photo shop in Europe, at the time of its closing —said to have been more than 100 years in the running. I remember thinking, at the time, that customers were almost in mourning over its closing, so I think it's appropriate that we place closed stores in this rubrik.