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rdenney
27-Nov-2011, 22:24
While visiting in Houston this last week, I had an opportunity to visit what used to be my favorite camera store there. But, as was the case the last few times I went, there was really nothing to interest me there any more. I weep for the dozens of display cases and hundreds of bins full of old and interesting stuff that used to fill the Houston Camera Exchange. That space is now filled with lighting equipment and camera bags. When I left there after 15 minutes, I was depressed.

As a means of moving around the day after Thanksgiving, and without getting anywhere near a shopping mall, I searched around for a camera store that might have escaped my attention from the old days. And I found the Houston Camera Co-op, in a completely different part of town (the Heights) than had been my old stomping grounds when I grew up there (Southwest Houston). My father and I went there on Friday just for a look. It's small, but it actually had stuff to look at. I came away with a metered prism for my second Pentax 6x7 body ($89), the remains of a set of Bogen 3040 legs that will provide two key spare parts that I need ($10), and, the real find of the day, a Cibachrome drum roller that should work well with my Jobo tank ($5).

They had two handfuls of large-format lenses, a couple of cameras (a nice Cambo and a rather tired Zone VI), and all of it was quite fairly priced. And the staff were not in the least jaded and seemed to enjoy a knowledgeable customer as much as the customer enjoyed a knowledgeable and helfpful sales person.

The question is: Will they have anything more the next time I visit? Or did I mine it for all I'm ever likely to find? Their film refrigerator was no less empty than Glazer's had been when I visited there two weeks ago during a business trip to Seattle, though they did have a couple of boxes of 4x5 Ektar that Glazer's did not have.

And: What does it say about the state of camera stores that such a small little store with just a few deals and interesting tidbits should represent such a departure from the depressing norm?

Rick "lifted from his funk--for a little while" Denney

Heroique
27-Nov-2011, 23:50
Some people are “There’s no place like home” people.

Others are “You can’t go home again” people.

Your melancholy homecoming gives you away – allow me to welcome you to the club! :^)

Sevo
28-Nov-2011, 00:50
The question is: Will they have anything more the next time I visit?

Not unless they manage to transform into a heavyweight webshop for LF and film. You cannot run a brick and mortar store in any niche market for well-informed or even professional buyers any more, unless it is merely the appendix of a successful online order business...

BrianShaw
28-Nov-2011, 07:29
This thread is like the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray. I clearly remember seeing this thread (specifically, the exact title) several times in the past few years. It's a shame, but it's a trend. Its been going on for so long that soon we won't have anymore stories like this to tell. What will we talk about when we are all wrinkled, senile and gray/grey (preferably 18%)?

You are lucky to have found any film and/or LF at all!

In the meantime... I'm sorry for your loss Rick, and very happy that you found some stuff you needed. Savor the memories, that's all we have... until our memory fail us.

jayabbas
28-Nov-2011, 07:54
Yup- happens to the best. Photomark here in Phoenix pulled up 50+ year roots and moved to the tourist mecca of Scottsdale to hawk camera bags and potchka to the well heeled tourist. I doubt much technical and professional gear or knowledge made the move with the store. We who practice the craft are becoming islands in the sky.

BrianShaw
28-Nov-2011, 07:59
Ouch... now I lament... Photomark moved???? Last time I was there (middle of last year, perhaps) they still had 5x7 film in the fridge. I thought they would be the last of the real photo shops.

Bob Salomon
28-Nov-2011, 08:02
But Rick,

You have Ace Photo near you in VA. As well as some other stores.

Nathan Potter
28-Nov-2011, 08:08
Methinks the great capitalist engine is is systematically working its way through the old photo stores, sort of like the biological equivalent of animal evolution but blindingly faster. And, "This thought is as a death which cannot choose, But weeps to have that which it fears to lose". Savor the tidbits that remain Rick, then weep no more.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

goamules
28-Nov-2011, 08:36
Last time I was in Jones Photo here in Tucson, all the printer paper and developing equipment had been moved into a back hallway. They had a little 4x5 film but that was it. One of the longtime workers told me he quit ordering film, because it would just expire on the shelves - no one bought it.

Yes, the great film infrastructure is going fast, just as the buggy whip manufacturers did when cars were invented. Does that mean there will be no place to buy film? No, it will always be a niche market, and online works better for that. If each city in America has only 3-4 LF shooters, it makes more sense to be an online company for each city. Not a local company for 3-4 people.

BrianShaw
28-Nov-2011, 09:46
Fortunately one can still buy buggy whips (and wagon wheels too). One just can't walk to the local feed + tack shop anymore, though.

Lynn Jones
28-Nov-2011, 09:56
Here in Austin we have a good camera store (Precision) and in Dallas, Competitive
Cameras, however in Texas overall, we have dozens/perhaps hundreds of feed and tack stores.

I'm not entirely sure what this means!

Lynn

BrianShaw
28-Nov-2011, 10:13
I'm not entirely sure what this means!


Let's face it... I live in Los Angeles... what do I know about feed and tack stores. Sorry I mentioned it. I was being geo-centric. I forgot for a moment that folks in TX might be participating in this discussion. Thanks for chiming in... and I'm happy to hear that you folks still have easy access to feed and tack! :)

SW Rick
28-Nov-2011, 10:39
Ouch... now I lament... Photomark moved???? Last time I was there (middle of last year, perhaps) they still had 5x7 film in the fridge. I thought they would be the last of the real photo shops.

But Tempe Camera still is here, and has a decent supply of film (probably helped by ASU students). They've actually increased their overall stock since Photomark, as we knew it, left.

Brian Ellis
28-Nov-2011, 10:51
I kind of miss the old camera stores too and it's sad to see them mostly gone. But setting nostalgia aside and trying to be practical, how much do I really miss them? I can go on line to Adorama or B&H and at my finger-tips find virtually everything having to do with photography that I could possibly wan (assuming it's still made) I don't have to drive to the store. I don't have to get there and find they don't have what I want. I don't have to deal with clerks who know less than I do about the product I want or who try to sell me something I don't want because they get a kicker from the manufacturer. I pay no sales tax and more and more these days pay no shipping either. I don't go to a store for one thing and spur of the moment see some other thing I didn't want and don't need but buy it on an impulse because it's "just so cool" (which is how I ended up with a useless Zeiss 35mm system some years back).

So while I understand your feelings about the old camera stores, if I had a choice between going back to them exclusively or buying the way I do today I'd take today every time. I guess what I'd really like is for the two to coexist but that isn't going to happen.

Brian C. Miller
28-Nov-2011, 11:07
Some people are “There’s no place like home” people.

Others are “You can’t go home again” people.

And others are "Somebody moved my food dish" people. ;)


Their film refrigerator was no less empty than Glazer's had been when I visited there two weeks ago during a business trip to Seattle, though they did have a couple of boxes of 4x5 Ektar that Glazer's did not have.

Glazer's film stock comes and goes, and of course there's stinkers like me in town who come in, see, and nab for their little food-sized freezer. Yes, I got all the Acros 4x5. Ektar is back in stock, but Fuji is down a bit. Things will change.

BTW, give me a heads-up next time and let's meet for coffee!

What drives me nuts is that I went and tried to find Panda Labs on Saturday. Found it on Sunday, but of course they were closed. That place is nearly a true hole-in-the-wall operation! No big sign outside, and no huge print on the windows. The business name is in 2-inch high letters, so it's really easy to miss. And the parking around there is miserable. Seriously, the lack of accessible labs is what will kill photography for amateurs! It's one thing to get a camera, another to shoot a roll of film, but what next? The drug stores are still OK with 35mm, but for MF and LF, where is it going to go? The entire Seattle metro area seems to have only three small film labs left standing, and that's it.

(FWIW, the feed store in Everett closed, but the tack store is still open.)

Robbie Shymanski
28-Nov-2011, 11:32
I have felt the same the past few times I have gone to Central Camera in Chicago. I think a lot of it has to do with my personal longing for self-sufficiency and the internet. I either have most of the toys I have longed for or have built them or since moved on. Not much I look for that I can't find within a few clicks of the web. And usually at a lesser cost. I try to keep it local, but if they can't keep my oddball interests in stock...

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 11:51
Here in Austin we have a good camera store (Precision....

Have you been in Austin long enough to remember Bob Hawley's Camera Crafts? Now, that was a used camera store whose passing was marked with lamentation. I bought A ton (yes, 2000 pounds) of stuff from Bob, and learned a lot about business from him, too. And then there was Capitol Camera, where I bought my Calumet/Cambo view camera, my Pentax spot meter, and much else besides. Precision is a shadow of those Austin legacies, but shadows are what we have.

Rick "whose entire darkroom got started with stuff from Bob Hawley" Denney

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 11:58
Fortunately one can still buy buggy whips (and wagon wheels too). One just can't walk to the local feed + tack shop anymore, though.

I live in horse country, and have sizable Mennonite and Amish communities north, south, and west. Buggy whips are easier to find in three dimensions around here than good camera equipment.

Rick "noting that buggy whips, unlike lenses and sheets of color film, are easy to make one at a time" Denney

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 12:10
But Rick,

You have Ace Photo near you in VA. As well as some other stores.

Moe runs a good store and goodness knows I've spent a ton of money with him, primarily for digital stuff. I put my money where my mouth is and I make my major purchases at Ace to support the local store. And occasionally he has some used stuff that is interesting--and when he does I buy it. But he does not stock sheet film and no longer processes E6. And it's hard to browse his store looking for tidbits. The point of a brick and mortar store is that I don't know what I'm looking for. it's a good store, but he has few of the sorts of customers I saw at Houston Camera Co-op.

Rick "who doesn't want photography to be solely an exercise in nostalgia, but it sometimes is" Denney

goamules
28-Nov-2011, 15:41
Ok, sorry I used the old buggy whip analogy! Yeah, I've got a feed store right down the road, then 4-5 more within a 20 minute drive. People are still feeding their horses and mules. Not many people are feeding film cameras.

BrianShaw
28-Nov-2011, 15:45
Don't apologize. I've found it interesting to find out that Rick "still using a buggy whip to make the pickup truck go faster to find the next camera store" Denny is Amish/Mennonite.

ic-racer
28-Nov-2011, 16:04
I recentlhy visited the camera store that I used to go to back in the early 1970s. They still have most of the same stuff! Lots of enlargers, NOS enlarger parts and lenses, easels, safelights, developing tanks, old chemistry, new chemistry. I bought a NOS 25mm enlarging lens and a NOS Jobo/Unicolor 'Jingle Bell' process timer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ic-racer/2011/Loomis.jpg

Bob Salomon
28-Nov-2011, 16:09
Moe runs a good store and goodness knows I've spent a ton of money with him, primarily for digital stuff. I put my money where my mouth is and I make my major purchases at Ace to support the local store. And occasionally he has some used stuff that is interesting--and when he does I buy it. But he does not stock sheet film and no longer processes E6. And it's hard to browse his store looking for tidbits. The point of a brick and mortar store is that I don't know what I'm looking for. it's a good store, but he has few of the sorts of customers I saw at Houston Camera Co-op.

Rick "who doesn't want photography to be solely an exercise in nostalgia, but it sometimes is" Denney

You want to browse tidbits try Le camera in Princeton.

Merg Ross
28-Nov-2011, 21:40
The camera stores, fully stocked with film and chemicals, familiar to some of us a half-century or more ago, are mostly gone. However, my lament is for the loss of the expertise and knowledge that vanished along with them. Those "old" men behind the counter helped guide many professional photographers to successful careers in the field. I was often a recipient of their technical knowledge, and owe them my gratitude. They saved me early in my career from certain disaster, and potential reshoots.

I assume that a similar knowledge exists today behind the photo store counters, as the technical aspects transform, and little is lost other than a nostalgia for the old days.

KJ Smith
28-Nov-2011, 21:58
The question is: Will they have anything more the next time I visit? Or did I mine it for all I'm ever likely to find? Their film refrigerator was no less empty than Glazer's had been when I visited there two weeks ago during a business trip to Seattle, though they did have a couple of boxes of 4x5 Ektar that Glazer's did not have.

And: What does it say about the state of camera stores that such a small little store with just a few deals and interesting tidbits should represent such a departure from the depressing norm?

Rick "lifted from his funk--for a little while" Denney

HCE is what it is. The customer service left years ago.

Co-oP is the store of choice at this point.

Most of the folks that work there have been there awhile.... even if they are young!

They tend to cater to the students for film, paper and chemical supplies.

The only local place I know for those supplies.

I was in there the day after you. The cases were as bare as I have seen them.

There has been a constant rumor that the end is near.... yet they manage to hang on somehow.

Keep a good thought.

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 22:10
Don't apologize. I've found it interesting to find out that Rick "still using a buggy whip to make the pickup truck go faster to find the next camera store" Denny is Amish/Mennonite.

I did not say that! The Pennsylvania Amish community is within a hundred miles to the north, the Beautiful Valley Mennonites are west of us in western Maryland, and the Eastern Mennonite University is south of us in Harrisonburg, VA. If I wanted a buggy whip (I don't), I bet I could find one having put fewer miles on the pickup than it would take to find all the parts and supplies necessary to make a large-format photograph.

When it comes to tradition and nostalgia, though, horsey people have no equal, and Ned Ludd just has to have been Amish.

Rick "who has spent time in the Amish communities of northern Indiana, too, by happenstance" Denney

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 22:22
There has been a constant rumor that the end is near.... yet they manage to hang on somehow.

Keep a good thought.

I will. They had plenty of customers and most were buying something--that's encouraging. They also had at least one customer who told me he never entered the place without buying something, but he was my age. They hopefully do enough trade in digital stuff to keep going. There was a note of resignation in the owner's voice when he named his ($5!) price for that drum roller.

When I visit a good camera store, I always try to find something to buy, even if I have no money and no room in my grip. At Glazer's, I bought two boxes of Fujiroid 100C45, though I've bought more from them in past visits. I fortunately drove to Texas for this visit instead of flying (I-81 was bad enough--I hate even the idea of flying around Thanksgiving), so I had room for bigger stuff.

If you're a long-time Houstonian, you'll remember Southside Camera, or Total Camera, or Southwestern Camera (for the well-heeled set). There was one in the Montrose, too, whose name escapes me. In San Antonio, there was the San Antonio Camera Exchange, where I bought several of my large-format lenses and all my supplies when I lived there. It's still there, probably also needing good thoughts. Hopefully it has not gone the way of HCE.

Rick "who should have bought those two boxes of Ektar" Denney

rdenney
28-Nov-2011, 22:27
You want to browse tidbits try Le camera in Princeton.

I don't make it that way often, but next time, I'll look 'em up.

Rick "finding it harder these days to need what is on offer" Denney

pdmoylan
30-Nov-2011, 17:24
There are also tid-bits of stories behind Phat Lee, the owner of Le Camera, who had a Ken Hansen like store on Route 1 in Lawrenceville NJ, which catered to many pros and locals alike. His then wife I am told sued to force the sale of the store assets due to certain shall we say indiscretions. He then divorced, lost the store, but within a few years started a shop in Princeton. I bought many pieces of used and a few new equipment from him. Very knowledgable; however his stash of LF, MF and darkroom is very limited at this point. Be forewarned, you won't find bargains without negotiating - something he appreciates in a customer - but he won't budge on new equipment and Leicas.

PS He has 2 stores, one in Princeton and the other off route 295 in Cherry Hill.