Wholesale sources for small retail?

[GZorko]

Against much advice to the contrary, I'm considering opening a real, physical storefront in Southern California catering to film photographers. I'm looking for reputable wholesale connections suitable for a small retailer for films, paper and chemistry. I'm especially interested in Ilford/Harman, Fuji and Kodak, but may decide to carry cheaper EU and Asian stock as well. Does anyone out there know of sources, or are the big guys mostly operating manufacturer-direct?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[nickrapak]

I know the camera store here in State College, PA uses Unique Photo as its wholesaler.

 

[Oren Grad]

WYNIT is the distributor for Ilford/Harman:

http://www.wynit.com/about/reseller.aspx

 

[GZorko]

nickrapak, Oren Grad, thank you. That's a big help.

 

[albada]

I don't know if you're near Escondido (San Diego county), but I suggest contacting Photo Darkroom here and asking them for tips about running a film-based business. Here's a link for them on yelp:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/photo-darkroom-escondido
​

HTH,

Mark Overton

 

[lxdude]

I suggest also contacting Matt at Glass Key Photo in San Francisco. He started about a year ago. Glass Key Photo is on Facebook and at glasskeyphoto.com

Matt's here on APUG as tjaded.