I bought a lot of equipment and supplies when their store and warehouse was in Bensenville, Il near O'hare. I worked nearby. Once they moved into town the drive and gas prices made visiting a PITA. I still made at least one visit every 6 months. Those 5 l fixer bottles are hard to ship. Just thinking about going down to buy one. And it's nice to have a place to go for sheet film etc on short notice when you can't mail order. I do have a nice collection of old catalogs.
I'm sorry to hear of their closing. I bought lots of film and paper along with some darkroom gear from them in the 80s through the 90s. After that time I started using other sources because they were more reliable.
Ron McElroy
Memphis
Originally Posted by ROL
, Okay, it was kinda funny, "Are you going to swim in those?"
Yikes, Jose is a good guy. I'm sorry to hear he'll be out of work. I hadn't thought about the employee side of this.
Most folks in the USA have heard of Calumet, I will miss thier presence in the photoworld- only because less competion out there equals less choice. But there are still other stores I have liked better, that still remain. Calumet I bought my first 4x5 Enlarger, my best 4x5 lens and my first Jobo and drums. Calumet was more expensive but in the early days they had knowledgable sales people who actually were friendly on the phone. I shopped elsewhere after the bad experience of buying a medium format scanner that was DOA, Calumet nor the maker really did me good service. So I stopped using and buying from both. It does not surprise me as I seem to recall they have had managment and financial issues for years,....not a few months. My thoughts and well wishes go out to the employees that now do not have jobs + thier families .
"Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will
accomplish them."
Warren G. Bennis
www.gbphotoworks.com
So, I assume that the life time warranty on all the Zone VI stuff I have is now officially expired. Sorry to see them go, did quite a bit of business with them. Also sorry that Jose may now be unemployed.
Ace is a great store. Moe, Frank etc. knowledgable and helpful...when I feel like making a 62 mile round trip!
Dominion Camera in Falls Church, haven't set foot in there after the owner screwed one of my best friends who worked there.
I have a few friends at Calumet that I've known since the Penn Camera days. Both Penn and Calumet were just plain mis managed and run in to the ground by idiot upper management. They knew things weren't good but none of them expected this.
Oh well, guess I'm full bore B&H now.
Bob
There's mosquitoes on the river, fish are rising up like birds. It's been hot for seven weeks now, too hot to even speak now, did you hear what I just heard?
Jose was always helpful and really knows his stuff. Sorry for him and the other good employees.
It sucks for their employees, but in reality the only thing Calumet was good for was that Dodd Chicago would match their rental prices... which with all the specials was cheap.
It's a good example of upper management incompetence. You can either charge higher prices because you answer the phone on the first ring(a la Fotocare), or compete on price with B+H.
I hope the employees aren't owed back pay or anything...
I've been buying at Goose Island since they were there. I live in the Milwaukee area and used to go ther every couple of weeks. 2 years ago, I went down there twice to get some 120 TMY.. No dice both times. Since then I've only been there about 4 times and there was not a single product I was interestd in.
There's another nice little camera store in Chicagoland..PJ's in Glen Ellyn. They Cater to film users who attend the College of DuPage's photography program.
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