BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I just found out that the best hometown camera shop is closed and everything is up for auction.

http://www.douglasauctioneers.com/index.php?id=997


I am all broke up.

NeilL Loc: British-born Canadian

I've never gone wrong with B&H.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I got all my good used stuff from him that I couldn't get from B&H.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

That's a shame, and a sign of the times.

tsilva Loc: Arizona

Maybe if you had bought all of your stuff from him he might still be in business

wolfd Loc: Vancouver, Canada

Looks like yet another casualty of on-line purchasing.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I hope you have everything you need!!
Pat

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Join the club. Last year we had two camera stores in a fourteen county area. This year one.

Much of the inventory has been sold at cost and people have spent to the point of lack of support for the remaining store.

The practice of "show rooming," is a practice of going into local stores and looking at equipment and then ordering on line.

The finial store Perfect Light Camera is a great store located in Idaho Falls Idaho. It is owned and run by a teaching Pro, Chris Balmer. He goes globally he teach and to tour. If you really want to do YP see Chris. He lives a short distance from Yellowstone Park.

J. R.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Yep. And this is why I've purchased my last five lenses and only DSLRs from my local brick and mortar. And I'll consign my gear there when I upgrade.

And I'll keep doing it...even if I have to pay a bit more. There's also no delivery charges...ever.

;-)

And I get to walk it home....

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

Fortunately I do. I have plenty of gear for when I go pro.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

After I found his shop, I got everything from him.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Not wanting to drive in to Philadelphia ( i hate city driving ) I drove about an hour to a little camera shop. No idea what I bought, but a month later I went back and he was gone, They had been in the same spot for 30 years .....

then I found another shop about 15 miles from the house. I stopped in, they had everything you could want EXCEPT customer service. Very rude people, answered questions but made it seem like I was bothering them. The place was junky looking , looked like it was painted 50 years ago, dingy light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

Ive since found Allens Camera in Levittown Pa. I asked them way too many questions , looked at way too much stuff, then asked a lot more questions, I bought something that was $199. and they took the time to show me a few things about it . Next trip I bought a replacement part for my tripod, I bulked at the $50.00 price, the guy says wait a minute, goes in he back brings out the same part by a different company. It fit and was $35.00 service Way above what I would have expected. ( just dont go on the weekend way too busy for them to spend a lot of time with you)

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Its a very simple matter of "use it, or lose it". Small shops cannot stay in business when their customer base uses them for information and "hand on" camera gear, and then turns around to buy online just to save a few bucks in sales tax.
So sad to see!

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Well Carter, I wish you the best--and hope you are still there the next time I visit Montana.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I remember the local camera shop I bought my first 35MM SLR at, and my second and my third, a Minolta then 2 Canon’s. They carried several brands like Canon and Nikon and Minolta and Konica. This was back in the 70’s and 80’s before the advent of digital photography. Then things began to change. The last true multi brand shop in my area went away a few years ago and the only shops I know of carry either Canon exclusively or a mix of mainly Nikon and a few Sony models. I don’t think I’ve purchased a camera body in a shop in probably 5 or 6 years now. I liked going into a store and actually holding a piece of equipment in my hands before I purchased it. I liked comparing similar models from different manufacturers. You have to go into the big city to do that now. Just like digital has changed the way we take pictures, it has changed the way we buy gear also.