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Photo Pro in Iowa Closed after 40 years

mshchem

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Iowa City, Iowa USA
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I've known David Johnson since 7th grade. Best customer service person in the business. Great lab going away. Between rent, looting during one break in and a 2nd attempted, and the Pandemic. He's a sports car guy, hopefully he can enjoy that for a while. I opened a bag of XTOL tonight, from Photo Pro. Dave got me hooked on it. Then I come up from the darkroom to hear the news.

 
It is all very worrying. If there is this clear improvement in film sales as several and one in particular member here never tires of telling us then so far none of it seem to be translating into the improved health of photo shops

Maybe when a new shop of this nature opens then no-one bothers to report on it but somehow I doubt if this is the case so all we see are reports of closures

You will have already gathered that I remain somewhat sceptical of there being what I'd be prepared to declare as a real recovery.

pentaxuser
 
  • Ariston
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  • Reason: Take it to The Soap Box, folks.
  • logan2z
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It used to be when you wanted to buy a camera or camera accessory you went to the camera store. Digital blurred the lines and big box electronics stores took over a significant part of the retail. Amazon took the rest. Sad, I am surprised they lasted as long as they did. I live in a large city so there are still a few photo stores- but honestly the only one I visit is Freestyle, and that is mainly to save on shipping costs.
 
I talked to Steve Myrick before Myrick's closed their doors. They were THE photo shop in Carmel for years. The camera manufacturers killed off the small shops in favor of direct sales. Without the income from new camera sales there wasn't enough business to keep the doors open. They were a Huge Resource to lose.
 
  • pentaxuser
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  • Reason: Take it to The Soap Box, folks.
  • Sal Santamaura
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High street retail is finding it hard, even before Covid 19. Rents are high, employment costs are high but footfall and spend are low. It doesn't take an expert to do the maths.
Ok you can try and blame online, but online is very convenient, takes little or no effort to order and it is delivered to the door. How more lazy can it be???
Also people have so much going on in their lives that they don't want to take time out to browse and shop in a physical shop.
So a store should embrace online but how do you compete with the big box online stores?
You don't.
You go niche market, do what the big ones can't do or are doing badly.

As some of you may know, I ran my own lab and photoshop for 35 years in a small town in the boondocks, on the periphery of Europe.
I took early retirement, (Covid was the push) and closed, partly for health reasons and partly because my personal pension matured.
The business was making money. Online sales were more than 20% of turnover. The film developing and scanning was expanding.
No sooner had I closed the door than I had people emailing me, wanting to buy my film processor, scanner, etc.
Now I have a guy interested in reopening and expanding.
I maybe one of the lucky ones. I know of many shops and labs that closed, many with a long history.
It is always sad to see another photo business close.
Like all business, it is always survival of the fittest.
 
  • mshchem
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  • MattKing
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You speak with wisdom! This is the same story as my friend's shop. He's certainly fit as can be. But his rent on the building, insurance etc. The business was profitable, before the Pandemic the place was always busy.
The decision wasn't easy, but Dave is a great businessman. He decided it was time. The loss to the community is huge.
 
  • mshchem
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  • Reason: Take it to The Soap Box, folks.
The discussion is about the loss of all the great shops. Here where I live in the last few years we have lost University Camera in Iowa City and now Photo Pro in Cedar Rapids. It's a loss that can't be replaced.
 
  • pentaxuser
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  • Reason: Take it to The Soap Box, folks.
Its a terrible loss...and he states the same reasons that I've heard again and again over that past twenty years from proprietors of small shops of every kind (not just photo related) -- rapid increases in rent, coupled with rapid declines in foot traffic and sales. The lab that I had been using for over twenty years closed some years ago (has it been ten years already?). It was the same story then. I just about quit doing color photography then. I've since found another lab and resumed doing some color - but small format only and only a few rolls a month at most.

I guess economists call it "creative destruction"...still, I'm sorry for the loss.
 
  • Sal Santamaura
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Totally off-topic but Mal Paso's mention of Myrick's sort of drop-kicked me back nearly forty years... that is how long since I moved from Monterey... and how much I enjoyed my visits to Steve Myrick's. I am still using a Pentax Spot Meter (Analog) and a dry-mounting press I purchased there. It was indeed a different world and I would like to venture back!
Joel
 
Even back in their heyday, most camera stores paid the rent and the staff salaries from profits arising from consumables - film and photo-finishing.
A modern camera store has almost no revenue from "consumables". And the majority of customers are so price sensitive that camera stores don't make sales of equipment unless they are priced to compete with the internet.
As my Dad used to quote/paraphrase: "We know the price of everything, and the value of nothing".
And my Dad really wasn't a cynic.
 
  • wyofilm
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  • Ariston
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  • Ariston
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  • Sal Santamaura
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  • pentaxuser
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  • George Mann
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  • George Mann
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Yet another loss of a great resource.
 
  • Ariston
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  • Reason: Take it to The Soap Box, folks.

The "no sales tax" internet sales killed off Showcase in Atlanta. Even with fixed pricing, on a 2-3000 purchase, the sales tax was huge. I paid the tax and bought local but very few people would do that.
 


What I saw consumers doing, they would go to the brick and Mortar store to ask question, hold the camera ect and then go home to order online to save the sales tax..
 
StepheKoontz said:
What I saw consumers doing, they would go to the brick and Mortar store to ask question, hold the camera ect and then go home to order online to save the sales tax..
Click to expand...

Just out of high school in the 1960's, I was selling cameras. People would come in, ask many many questions and then drive across town to buy it elsewhere to save $2.
 
StepheKoontz said:
The "no sales tax" internet sales killed off Showcase in Atlanta. Even with fixed pricing, on a 2-3000 purchase, the sales tax was huge. I paid the tax and bought local but very few people would do that.
Click to expand...
That's mostly come to an end in several states. I'm in CA and if I buy from B&H they collect CA sales tax. Some out of state brick and mortar shops are still not obligated to collect CA sales tax (I'm not entirely sure why), but I suspect that won't be the case for long.
 
This is more of move by the building owners getting a new tenant,. The shop was making money. Dave is my age and doesn't want to dump a bunch of money into a new building. What would be great is if he could have a small space for the lab only. But it may be just time to let it go. He's been working his butt off for 40 years. Time to relax a bit.
 

They are collecting in GA too and honestly I'm glad as it helps support the local economy.
 
It was terribly unfair to brick and mortar stores that out of state sellers got away with not collecting sales taxes for so long. It amounted to an unearned discount and cost the states many millions in revenue.
While I selfishly enjoyed the nearly 10% discount I got from out of state sellers (no, like everyone else I did not self report all my out of state purchases), it was not right.
 
pentaxuser said:
It is all very worrying. If there is this clear improvement in film sales as several and one in particular member here never tires of telling us then so far none of it seem to be translating into the improved health of photo shops.
Click to expand...

All major and relevant companies in the film photography industry - film manufacturers, film distributors, labs, photo chemistry manufacturers, lab equipment manufacturers, used camera distributors, even film camera manufacturers, are reporting increasing demand. Of course with certain differences in product groups, so some products have higher growth rates than others.
The film revival is very real.
Just one example: The number of packages our colleagues from Fotoimpex are sending out daily is meanwhile in the three-digit area. And it is steadily increasing for years. It is about 3x higher today compared to 6-7 years ago. The Fotoimpex brick-and-mortar store in Berlin has also increasing demand for years, with the strongest growth among young(er) photographers (younger than 35).

The problems lots of local brick-and-mortar photo shops have are mainly
- strongly increasing rents in many cities worldwide
- the total crash of the digital camera market, which has lost about 95% of its volume during the last decade (and this crash has even accelerated lately)
- the very low margins in the photo industry
- competition from huge online companies.

pentaxuser said:
Maybe when a new shop of this nature opens then no-one bothers to report on it but somehow I doubt if this is the case so all we see are reports of closures.
Click to expand...

The first part of your sentence is correct (the last part not): Lots of used film camera shops, film distributors and new labs have opened worldwide during the last years, doing business successfully. They are mostly present on social media because their audience and potential customers (younger photographers) are there and paying attention there. And talking about it on their social media channels.

ADOX - Innovation in Analog Photography.
 

Fine but from what you present as evidence it would seem that when these new premises are opened they are not what we call here "bricks and mortar shops on streets and open to customers who can go in, buy products, get advice. These are all the advantages that bricks and mortar shops give us which other forms of retailing do no. It is this kind of shop that we lament the closing of and it would seem that this is justified

So here's a plea as a means of checking whether my contention is true: Will all Photrio members please report the opening of new bricks and mortar shops in the future. It would even be helpful if members who have reliable facts were to report that the remaining shops they know of are finding an increase in business. This of course means talking the owners and asking questions.

pentaxuser
 
pentaxuser said:
Fine but from what you present as evidence it would seem that when these new premises are opened they are not what we call here "bricks and mortar shops on streets and open to customers who can go in, buy products, get advice.
Click to expand...

You are unfortunately misinterpreting our post.
The new used camera shops and labs are all brick-and-mortar stores, physical stores, where you can personally walk in, buy stuff, try the cameras for sale, give your films for processing, can talk to the stuff, get advice etc..
They are also doing online business in addition (as almost all long established shops/labs are doing, too). And are very active in online marketing via social media, which is absolutely a necessity nowadays.
Here in Berlin for example more than a dozen established labs have "survived the digital storm", and getting now increasing business again. And lots of camera shops here have so far survived the crash in digital camera sales, too. Some of them are meanwhile offering more film related products, too.
Recently two new film camera shops (one with lab included) have opened here (click&surr, safelight). Both have a real, physical brick-and-mortar store. That is their core business. Both are doing in addition online business as well. Safelight has recently added a minilab in their store for film processing. AFAIK prints will be offered next. Both have reported increasing business since their start.

ADOX - Innovation in Analog Photography.
 
Thanks. Hence my plea for all Photrio members who admittedly cover only the U.S. and possible Canada comprehensively report the opening of the new bricks and mortar stores but my plea of course extends to those in the U.K. and the rest of Europe

Can you supply a list of new shops that are known to you in Germany? You mention "here" is this here in Berlin only? I am unsure where AgX is nor whether macfred is Germany base on is in in Holland but he too might be ideal as he is clearly in both countries frequently judging by the locations of his very nice photos

pentaxuser
 
The US Supreme Court affirmed a couple of years ago that states can require companies to collect their state's sales taxes for products sent to customers in their states. However, there's a minimum required amount in dollars per year. Apparently this was done to limit this requirement to small companies having to collect taxes if the sales are over a preset amount. So a company like B and H would be required. But if you;re a local photo shop in New Mexico, and you sell $1000 totally to buyers in let's say California, you wouldn't have to collect. The total sales does not reach a trigger point for collection. Each state apparently decides what the amount for their state is I believe. But the whole thing isn't really clear and should be settled by Congress so it applies to the whole country. Unfortunately, they haven;t legislated on it yet.
 
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