47th Street and Cambridge camera stores of New York
Oct 10, 2022 08:10:44 #
huemax
Loc: High Point, NC
Yes, I do very well. I have purchased many cameras and lenses, and have been both stores drove up to NYC from North Carolina. It was such a fun trip to visit all camera stores in the city after going through magazine ads and catalog books. I think all those stores made business success by mail orders not over the counter sales. After 30 to 40 yeas, camera stores and sales of photo equipment are completely different. Hope they have carrying on legacy of nice kind, well informing, and great customer service today. Here in central North Carolina, 95 percent of retail camera stores has been gone.
Oct 10, 2022 08:41:15 #
Urnst wrote:
Does anyone remember these from the 80's and 90's?
Is there a useful point to this question and resulting thread?
Oct 10, 2022 08:42:56 #
chepo1956
Loc: Puerto Rico
Archiefamous wrote:
I loved going to olden and the camera barn. Great deals interesting inventory
I bought the Olympus OM-4Ti camera there at Olden Camera in 1986. I still have it, but needs to be repaired.
Oct 10, 2022 09:19:53 #
pendennis wrote:
They packed Popular and Modern Photography magazines, and some others which I've forgotten. As I remember, they would take up 25%-35% of the page count. And putting that kind of advertising bucks into the magazines spoke a lot to the magazines turning a blind eye to their sales tactics. It wasn't until the 80's, and the reputations of B&H and Adorama, that the other stores started to clean up their acts.
Modern Photography Magazine had a policy and staff to deal with complaints. Customers were heard, stores were called, and their complaints were dealt with. Don't paint all the magazines with the same brush.
Oct 10, 2022 09:39:35 #
RonDavis wrote:
That's right Bill; didn't their ads/catalog pages appear in the back of photo magazines. Small print with lots of listed items...with what was suppose to be "bargain prices"!..... I can't remember the names of the photo magazines....just remember the black & white print pages. Oh my, this was also pre-internet. 
As I recall, the two major magazines were Popular Photography and Modern Photography. That's back when I had a Minolta SRT-101 with a 58MM 1.4 lens.
Oct 10, 2022 09:47:18 #
Traveller_Jeff wrote:
Modern Photography Magazine had a policy and staff to deal with complaints. Customers were heard, stores were called, and their complaints were dealt with. Don't paint all the magazines with the same brush.
It wasn't until Herb Keppler wrote unflattering reviews of those stores. His popularity and honesty were the drivers. Popular and Modern were the two main mags of the 60's, 70's, and early 80's, and both were loath to risk losing ad dollars. And I did mention that there were others, just that Modern and Popular were the two of note.
Oct 10, 2022 09:52:05 #
Living in CT in the early 2000s and visiting my wife’s daughter and family in Brooklyn’s DUMBO area, I’d cross the Brooklyn Bridge and could see in the distance an entire block of a street dedicated to cameras, stereos, etc. They were mainly individual shops but all under the same name. Was that 47th St Photo?
Oct 10, 2022 11:18:22 #
I bought a film camera from 47th Street camera back in the 70’s. Took it home and it didn’t work. Took it back the next day and they wouldn’t replace it or give me a refund. Told me to send it in under warranty, which I did. Took three weeks to get it back.
I never did business with them again.
I never did business with them again.
Oct 10, 2022 12:28:47 #
Oct 10, 2022 12:33:31 #
StevenG
Loc: Long Island, NY
Urnst wrote:
Does anyone remember these from the 80's and 90's?
Willoughbys and Peerless. That might have been in the 50s though. Went with my dad.
Oct 10, 2022 13:51:49 #
"Shutterbug" was the oversized newsprint publication. They became digital only a few years ago.
Oct 10, 2022 13:55:44 #
george19 wrote:
Olden, Golden, Spiratone, Willoughbys, 47th St, Executive, Cambridge…
Now you are really dating yourself!
Oct 10, 2022 14:03:47 #
Urnst
Loc: Brownsville, Texas
DerexArt wrote:
"Shutterbug" was the oversized newsprint publication. They became digital only a few years ago.
Oct 10, 2022 14:07:43 #
Oct 10, 2022 14:12:28 #
Urnst
Loc: Brownsville, Texas
CHG_CANON wrote:
Have a look at Abe's of Maine if you really want low prices.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.