Keeble & Schuchat, Palo Alto

[tgtaylor]

informed their employees that they will be closing both stores for good at the end of October. Any remaining stock will be sold on ebay. I found this out yesterday while looking for a camera strap.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

That's sad news, though that side of the Bay has always been too far away to be practical for me personally. I can see there from my office, but it might as well be the far side of the moon in terms of typical traffic conditions.

[BrianShaw]

sad

[Ari]

Too bad, I was there last summer for a morning visit; I had a chance to spend some time with Terry Shuchat, who is a gentleman from the old school.

[dasBlute]

&^%@$%^#$%&#$@R&%

a sad day.

[drew.saunders]

Here's a story explaining some of why they're closing: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2...ose-in-october

Currently, they're having a 10% off everything sale, plus no sales tax (so more or less a "20% off what you'd end up paying" sale). Not a lot left as of this afternoon! I searched both stores, and just got some ink for my Epson printer, and another bag of 4x5" negative sleeves. There are plenty of inkjet papers, and there was a resonable amount of traditional paper left too, plus some darkroom chemicals and equipment. For LF, they have just a few used lenses, some lensboards, a Sinar camera, another (Toyo?) camera, and a box of dark slides (no film holders that I could see, but I have too many film holders, so I didn't look too hard). There's still some LF film remaining (B&W and color) in the main store, but I have all I'll need for a while.

I also dropped off a roll of 35mm B&W, probably the last roll I'll ever get processed locally. When I pick it up tomorrow afternoon, I may get some more film.

The bargain hunters have grabbed quite a lot of the digital stuff, but there's still some left.

It's sad to see them go. I'm surprised they stayed open so long, but even owning the building won't make up for running in the red if you have to pay employees a decent Palo Alto wage. It's just too expensive to live here!

[Atul Mohidekar]

That is a sad news. I have bought some film and gear from them, but it was a while ago. I had received very professional service from the people there.

[Darin Boville]

Sad to see them go--I tried to give them some of my business but no luck. Sometimes it was just outright weirdness (salespeople insisting that the reason B&H et al can sell so cheaply is that all of it is mafia stolen goods). Other times prices were too high (bags, accessories). Other times they just didn't stock the paper I used or the ink I needed (after the new Canon printers came out they stopped stocking the ink for the previous generation, it seems).

But generally seemed like nice people, doing their best.

--Darin

[Preston]

Several year ago I had to go to Gryphon, the musical instrument store, to pick up a guitar that I had to have repaired. At the time, I was in the market for a ball head and a tripod so I went to K-S. It was like wandering through a candy shop! The staff helped me find a good combination that met my needs and within my budget. Sad to see them go.
--P

[Drew Wiley]

There's probably a bit more to the story. That much space in Palo Alto is worth a lot and there is probably quite a bit of pressure to force them out, so it can all either be subdivided into boutique shops or outright leveled for redevelopment. There's a "gentrification" plague all over this area. Fortunately, this business where I work is officially protected by industrial zoning, otherwise there wouldn't even be a primary supplier for necessary construction materials and equipment, but nearly everything in sight peripheral to us is being leveled, with uber-expensive condos going up, above horrendously expensive ground-floor retail spaces. Much
of this is sheer speculation and might not pan out for the investors, analogous to the dot-com craze of the 90's and the obscene leases it expected, yet rarely got.