Closed Camera Stores - We Miss You!

[Livesteamer]

Trendon Photo in Libertyville Illinois. A tiny store but in 1971 I was fifteen, saving for a Nikormat and they hired me part time to clean the store. Mostly mopping and emptying the trash, washing windows. After about a month there they handed me a soft paint brush and told me to go dust the Leica's so that's where I handled my first Leica.

Later they sold me a used Nikon S with four Nikon cassettes for $100, my first rangefinder and I put a lot of film thru those cassettes in my F.

Thanks for the experience. Had my first beer there too!

Joe

[Livesteamer]

Jim Kuehl was not a store but a dealer in Iowa. In 2001 and 2002 I had some disposable income and bought a bunch of Leica M stuff from him both new and used. The first item was a used Noctilux for $1,500 that he charged on my credit card. The next month I ordered a Tri Elmar and was about to give him my credit card number when he said "Let me just send it to you and if you like it send me a check to cover the invoice." And he did. I bought two Leica M's and several new lenses that way.

A wonderful Gentleman to deal with. Thank You Jim Kuehl.

Joe

[Speedfreak]

Originally Posted by Mackinaw

Here's a shot of a Canon demo taken at Adray Photo back in 1974 (or so). I do remember that the pic was taken with a just-introduced FD 24mm F1.4 lens wide-open at F1.4, on my FTb. Talk about a trip down memory lane.



Jim B

Is that a younger Tom A in the center?

[Travis L.]

I'll second Jim Kuehl. I bought my first 35 Summicron from him, and lots of other stuff over the years. What a great guy.

I can still hear him answer the phone... Jiiiimmmm Kuehl.

[Paulbe]

I agree--Jim Kuehl was great.
What happened to him? He was SO nice!
And Don Chatterton--is he still around?
His Shutterbug ads had many listings that said "just back from DAG..."
Never knew what that meant until a few years ago...

[bobkonos]

Optechs in Seattle. Opened around 1981 by a couple (he worked at Boeing as I did). Small store on the fourth floor of a cool office building downtown. saw my first Nikon rangefinder there, a chrome dial S2 with 50mm 1.4. Clyeds and a small shop on Aurora near our house were also my haunts then, 1979-1983.

[bobkonos]

Originally Posted by Paulbe

I agree--Jim Kuehl was great.
What happened to him? He was SO nice!
And Don Chatterton--is he still around?
His Shutterbug ads had many listings that said "just back from DAG..."
Never knew what that meant until a few years ago...

Don is still around. Lives on Fox Island WA. No longer dealing in Leica, but I visited him a lot when we lived in Seattle, 1979-1983. His living room was Leica central.

[bobkonos]

Originally Posted by Paulbe

I agree--Jim Kuehl was great.
What happened to him? He was SO nice!
And Don Chatterton--is he still around?
His Shutterbug ads had many listings that said "just back from DAG..."
Never knew what that meant until a few years ago...

As for Jim Keuhl, I just found several listed in Yellow Pages for Iowa. Start dialing and good luck.

[bobkonos]

Just thought of one more: A Photographer's Source, which carried photography books and had a monthly ad in Shutterbug Ads. Remember them? One owner's name was Harvey____. I ordered a lot of great Hove Leica books from them, as well as others. The best source at the time (1980s) for photography books.

[JoeV]

Camera Works, in Albuquerque's university district, was the best camera store in town, staffed and owned by real photo enthusiasts, and catered to everyone from the professional with digital SLR to hobbyist with B/W darkroom to the Holga-wielding film students at UNM.

Alas, it's been gone now for a few years, and I still miss it.

-Joe

[Vince Lupo]

Gallery Cameras on Yonge St. in Toronto. The premier Leica dealer in T.O, and in had the most 'un-camera-like' atmosphere -- low lighting, jazz music in the background, coffee always hot (and in real mugs), and on Saturdays they'd have trays of baked goodies. Keith Matson, Chris Stone and John Thompson were the best, and I miss that store dearly.

[newsgrunt]

Yep, Keith went on to eventually work for Leica but lost track of him after he left New Jersey.

[Vince Lupo]

And Chris went to work for Lisle-Kelco...don't know where John went.

[Pablito]

All the NYC places, but also a little hole in the wall on 6th Ave called Photobug run by a family well connected to the photo industry. A few glass cases of really nice used stuff.

[newsgrunt]

Keith and Chris both worked for Lisle Kelco iirc. We know how this turned out.

[zauhar]

Originally Posted by Mackinaw

Well, maybe not an old camera store, but here's a shot my Dad took back in 1933 at the camera counter in Hudson's department store in Detroit. Back in those days, Hudson's was in the same class as New York's Macy's and Chicago's Marshall Fields. Note the folders and movie cameras.



Jim B.

Dear God - my Mother (may she rest in peace) worked at that store!

THANKS for posting that!

Randy

[zpuskas]

Jim Kuehl was not a store but a dealer in Iowa. In 2001 and 2002 I had some disposable income and bought a bunch of Leica M stuff from him both new and used. The first item was a used Noctilux for $1,500 that he charged on my credit card. The next month I ordered a Tri Elmar and was about to give him my credit card number when he said "Let me just send it to you and if you like it send me a check to cover the invoice." And he did. I bought two Leica M's and several new lenses that way.

I bought my M6 and a used 35mm Summilux lens from Jim around the same time. Bought a Summilux about 8 months later. Very good person to deal with; honest.

[julianphotoart]

In Toronto: ALT CAMERA EXCHANGE. What a great place that used to be; noyhing like the behemoth Henry's that took it over.

In L.A.: STUDIO CITY CAMERA EXCHANGE.

[dannynono]

Travis, Fairborn Camera was the shop my dad would head to whenever he needed something new for his Minoltas. It's probably a stretch, but in your first pic one of the faces in the background kinda looks like my dad. I'd be surprised if you hadn't run into him during your early years there.

I'm straining to recall the name of the photo store that was here in Fall Church until early '02 - the owner had a serious collection of pristine black-bodied rangefinders from the 50s-70s. The shop I do recall more clearly, and fondly, was Newberry Camera in Arlington. Mr. Newberry ran a small repair shop, selling used and consignment cameras. A very kind man who shared some great stories with anyone who happened to stop in.

[nikon_sam]

In the early 80's I would shop at a store in Pomona, CA called "The Good Guys"...I'm sure they sold more than just cameras and photography related gear but that's all I remember seeing there...
I bought my two black body Pentax MX's, two MX Winders, a Vivitar VI enlarger and then the Colorhead for the enlarger...most likely picked up paper and chemistry there too...
I don't remember when they closed...but it was a long time ago...

Claremont Camera was another local store that had a bunch of gear...they had a lot of salesmen too but even with that you had to wait to get to the counter...
I continued shopping there until they barely had anything left on the shelves...then one day I drove up to the store and they were closed...even now when I drive past I look at where they used to be...

Koenig Camera in Covina, CA was another shop that had it all or at least a lot of stuff that I needed...I think they still have a store but nothing like it used to be...

I never thought to photograph any of these places...I guess I figured they would always be around...

[I Love Film]

My father used to own a little local camera and film store up in the Bronx in the early 1950's.

A Polaroid rep brought in one of their early cameras and my father snapped a photo of one of his regular customers.

[sprokitt]

Originally Posted by red snapper

Digital killed photography.

I don't know about 'killed' but it sure did change it.
There are many things I miss about film. First and foremost, I miss the high quality gear that was being made in the late 60's through early 90s. Sometimes I pull out my old Nikon F just to remember what a 'REAL camera' feels like.

I also miss that you actually had to work at it a little harder with film. The anticipation of waiting to develop your film made me try a little harder.

While I did like doing darkroom work, I don't miss hours on end in a dark room full of chemistry. I worked for several years as a darkroom tech and that put a damper in my love of darkroom.

I wouldn't say digital killed photography, but it most certainly killed some aspects of it.

[sprokitt]

My Camera Store Votes:

Cary Camera - Cary, NC. My first camera store job from about 1987-1989 One of my best friends from high school got me a part time job there when he left for an out of town college. Luckily, I went to school in the same town. Even more luckily, my girlfriend at the time lived about 1 mile from the store. It was a tiny little store but I had a great time there.

Sam Bass Camera - Raleigh, NC. 1989-1991. My 2nd camera store job. A much bigger store with a very large pro customer base. At the time the founder (Sam) had sold the store but still worked there. I learned a lot, met a lot of great people, and more or less paid my way through engineering school with this job. They eventually sold the store to Ritz or Wolf or somebody. The store is still there but the last time I went by not too many people who knew anything about photography worked there.

University Camera, Durham, NC. 1991-1994. I started working at this store when I graduated and started my MS degree. What a great store. The place was packed every weekend. Most saturday's there was a line 4-5 people deep at the counter. Loved it. Regrettably, the owner decided to quit paying taxes and one day the IRS put a lock on the door.

Southeastern Camera / Peace Camera - Raleigh, NC. 1994-2001. Tony and Todd from University setup a new shop and I was one of the guys. I worked pretty much every weekend through those years. It was just like University. We had SOOOO much used gear and it would be so busy on the weekends. I sure do miss those days. I think Southeastern and Peace split up but are still around. Great places. I miss working there, all the gear, and all the cool people.

I will post some photos if I can find them....and scan them...

[kena]

Originally Posted by red snapper

Digital killed photography.

I remember back around late 1999 why wife gave me my first digital camera for my birthday. It was a Toshiba PDRM-04. It was a little point and shoot but was quite a little novelty at the time. What I remember most though was what she said that the salesman told her " this whole digital thing is just a fad and will be gone in a few years" That store was a little place called The Shutterbug in Northridge CA. Long story short it closed probably about 6 years later. It's a shame because they also were a good local lab and had a good selection of used gear and a few shelves of Leica goodies.

[lmd91343]

Originally Posted by julianphotoart

In L.A.: STUDIO CITY CAMERA EXCHANGE.

X2 - the best one