Springfield, Illinois Creve Coeur Camera location closing

It is a sad day. I learned yesterday that next Saturday, April 13th, will be the last day Creve Coeur Camera in Springfield, IL will be open. Now, they have three other locations, in Shiloh, IL, Chesterfield, MO, and the main store in Creve Coeur, MO, but I live near Peoria and Bloomington, IL, (and work in Springfield) so the St. Louis area is a bit far for me to go on a regular basis (I seem to get to St Louis maybe once or twice a year).

No more swinging by to pick up a roll of FP4+ or HP5+, or drop off a roll of E-6 film for development. Looks like it's back to mail-order for me.

On the upside, B&H gets me my supplies in 1-2 business days, and I'm going to start developing my own B&W 35mm soon, (I have the stuff thanks to another Photrio/APUG user passing me a developing tank and some reels). So there is that. It was just really convenient to go "Oh, I need a roll of FP4+ because I got a new-to-me camera and I want to run a test roll through it, what's a good, inexpensive film to use that I can get in a 24-exposure roll?" And I can at least scan my own 35mm now, so I don't need the lab's services for that either.

That is indeed a bummer. I lived in St. Louis for many years, and used to go to Creve Coeur Camera often. Their main store had an excellent stock of used film gear at realistic prices, and I acquired much there. It is very nice to have a local camera shop. I'm in a much smaller market now, but we still have good local shop, and I support it. I'm surprised that there's not a single shop carrying film in Peoria/Springfield/Bloomington. Unfortunate indeed...

Dale

Bloomington had one back in 2010, it was called "Camera Corner." They didn't have much in the way of slide film. The last time I was in there, they had one roll, I bought it, and they said that was it, no more slide film. I didn't shoot much B&W at the time, so didn't inquire about that. By 2013, they'd closed up the Peoria location (IIRC they're still in the Quad Cities). Peoria Camera Shop doesn't have much in the way of film either. Springfield had the best selection locally. They had Tri-X, both flavors of T-Max, Kodak Ektar (in 120 but not 35mm), HP5+, HP4+, and two of the three flavors of Portra (no 800).

B&H by far has better selection, and better prices too. I did try to shop locally when possible, but there was some stuff that CCC just didn't have. And that was OK, I didn't mind that they didn't have everything; or that they charged more for a roll of HP5+ or Agfa CT Precisa than B&H, they were local and convenient. Looks like it's back to mail order for both ordering and processing (except I'm going to start processing my own B&W negatives). That's not such a bad thing; CCC was only processing E-6 on Wednesdays, and processing B&W only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if I'd dropped a roll off on April 1st, it wouldn't get to St. Louis in time for their Wednesday E-6 run, so it wouldn't have been processed until the following Wednesday (that'd be the 10th), and I'd have it back on Friday the 12th. I recently sent The Darkroom (in CA) a roll of E-6, and it was delivered, processed, mounted, and back to me in a week. Mailed it on a Monday, got it back the following Monday.

It's not all bad. With companies like Freestyle, B&H, Dwayne's Photo, and The Darkroom around, I'll be okay.