The Sad State of Retail Photography Stores

[moose10101]

I support Service Photo, located at 3838 Falls Road, Baltimore, MD. 410-235-6200.

On my last visit to Service Photo, I picked up some Ethol LPD and Rodinal (during the "panic"). They're the only local alternative to buying on-line. They have a good stock of analog products, while also serving the digital market.

 

[Zathras]

Peierin-I don't care to get on no pissing match but you ought to re-read what I wrote. Does it give you alot of pleasure to say stupid stuff on the internet so everyone knows your a loser. have a great day, Peter

Peter,

I know pelerin from doing business with the store where he works, and I know where he's coming from. I read your original post, and like him, I get the impression that you're slagging Lens and Repro and the others because they don't give you freebies any more.

Pelerin works at one of the last decent photo retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has been extremely helpful every time I've gone there to get my chemicals and sensitized goodies, and I definitely am not someone you would size up as a moneybags type of person if you see me. He is one of those salesmen you want to do business with because he knows what the hell he's talking about and he TREATS HIS CUSTOMERS RIGHT!!!. And to boot, he's not some grizzled old fart marking time until retirement.

Bitch all you want about the sad state of retail camera stores, at least pelerin and the store he works for are doing all they can to help keep these materials we know and love available to the public, and they'll continue to get my business and support. What have you done to help keep it alive?

Mike Sullivan

 

[pelerin]

Peter,

I know pelerin from doing business with the store where he works,
Mike Sullivan

Mike,
Thanks for watching my back, no one likes to be referred to in pejorative terms. Yes I do work in the photo industry. I also actively photograph and my participation here is engendered by my avocation, not my employment. I certainly don't claim to possess any insider knowledge about the workings of Lens and Repro. My dealings with them are limited to one visit (talk about a busman's holiday) and a few telephone conversations. They were polite and, to quote you, "I definitely am not someone you would size up as a moneybags type of person..." However my experience does not mean that they have treated Peter fairly or that he is not entitled to his own opinion about their service and pricing. To be fair, what I took issue with in his post can be found elsewhere in the thread and, given that, I perhaps should have expressed my opinion in a more neutral way. I certainly did not intend what I wrote as a personal affront. Peter, I apologize for any offense I have given. I would have done so in my last comment here but, being the emotional human type myself, I took unkindly to what I felt was a rather schoolyard retort on your part.
Celac.

 

[JBrunner]

I went into a Ritz "Outlet store" In Vegas - I just had to. I walked in and was greeted with - "Is there anything I can help you find?" I told him likley not: I told him I needed a Hasselblad lens cap. He asked What thread size. Then I used a word he had never heard before - bayonette. RCA dog look. He said anything else? .... now I figured, what the heck. How about a box of 8x10 TRI-X Film (chuckle chuckle) He directed me to the ONLY analog thing in the store: an Ilford pack of 10 sheets of REAL RC VC paper. I could have as easily found things I could use in a Denny's.

We do have a local poto store in town that does service the local college and has chemistry, papers and film. Basic darkroom supplies and guys that know that real cameras do not have LED screens on the back. Unfortunely, they cannot keep up with B&H and it is the college that keeps this product line alive.

Ritz/Inkleys here in SLC is also pretty much toast.The cameras are now the geek spasm of the moment, and most of the help is new, young and photographically myopic.

 

[Roger Hicks]

They need to pretend like the technology just got invented yesterday, no one knows anything about it, and it's their job to create a future market.

Dear Joe,

Absolutely! I could not agree more. But there was until recently a wild oversupply of camera stores, typically opened by enthusiasts some time between 1930 and 1960, and there was no way they could all survive.

But the ones that do survive could find some very nice niches. I have been talking to one of my favourite camera stores (Camerex in Exeter) about the possibility of camera repair classes -- a natural for a store selling specialist collector equipment, and Kevin (the owner) is a camera repairer...

As for the 'look-around' argument elsewhere in the thread, a great camera store is one where you wander in; look around; and (at least one time in three) buy something you didn't know you 'needed'. If they make you feel unwelcome, well, **** 'em and go somewhere else.

Alas, all of my favourite camera stores are a VERY long way from where I live: Paris (200 miles), Bristol and Exeter (600 miles), Prague (?800 miles), San Luis Obspo, California (4000+ miles)...

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com -- where some people might find it amusing to read the free 'How many cameras do you need?' module in the Photo School)