taxman Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

Several good options in Ohio -

Dodd Camera in Cleveland. While they have several stores throughout the suburbs, the downtown store is large, well stocked, and well staffed with knowledgeable people.

Pixel Connection in Avon - west of Cleveland.

Campus Camera in Kent, as a couple of others mentioned. That was my go-to store when I was a student at Kent State University.

Midwest Photo Exchange in Columbus. I always make it a point to stop there when I'm in Columbus.

dreklaw Loc: Tucson

ProCam in Aurora, Illinois, is an awesome place. I purchased gear and took some great classes there.

tiphareth51 Loc: Somewhere near North Pole, Alaska

The problem with some brick-and-mortar stores especially without the competition of other similar stores, is the return policy. Once you walk out the door, it's yours even if it's defective . Instead of an exchange it gets returned to the manufacturer for service. Mail order works just fine and no sales tax. I love B+H. The problem is when you don't know what specific item to buy you can't check them out first.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

Other than Dodd Camera here in Cincinnati we have no more camera stores since digital evolved. Sorry I do not call Best Buy a camera store because the personell who work there know nothing about cameras except that they get a sale from it.

SAVH Loc: La Jolla, CA

Fortunately here in San Diego we have George's Camera in two locations. Great service and knowledgeable staff. I have been buying my cameras and lenses there for many years because I always know they will support what they sell and provide very good recommendations and suggestions.

PCL92

So it seems that almost every locality has a favorite photo store. I support "The Photo Store" in Brick New Jersey.
I check prices on the internet first and in every case the store is the same or less. One instance they quoted higher and when I showed them the online price they reduced theirs to meet it.
The local store is able to give you personal service that the online stores can't give you. Support your local store, if they don't give you the service you expect then call them out, let them know you expect more from them to keep you as a customer.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

ProCam is also in Michigan and Ohio good operation with smart people

PeterBergh

Mike's Camera is also in Colorado (about 4 stores).

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Sammy's Camera in Santa Barbara. We used to have great stores here especially when Brooks Institute was a real photo school before they got bought out by a bunch of crooks who finally just went out of business. I feel badly for all the real Brooks students whose name was smeared by the 'not for profit' (LMAO) crooks who took over. It was too bad Ernie Brook's name was ever part of that fraudulent group.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The viability of a local camera store is all about staff expertise. My go to camera store here in Minneapolis is the National Camera Exchange first and second West Photo. But as the years pass I have a lesser need for a camera store - my present Sony α6300 is no doubt my last camera.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

If I lived and worked in Baltimore I too would be carrying! Owning a business in the majority of many cities is a challenge.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

2nd more general comment. I bought my first camera from Tony Rose at Anderson's Camera in Santa Barbara. It was a Zeiss Icon followed up by others before I stuck with Canon. Tony went on to own and run stores. My good friends father owned a store in the valley in Los Angeles. In both cases it was their advice that was valuable. I could buy my camera, lens and film in hundreds on places. But alas they went out of business because their sales model was they made most of their money processing film and doing prints not selling cameras, lens etc which have really small almost invisible margins. I am surprised that local (not chain) stores still survive but I find it unlikely they do so because of equipment sales. But what they do offer is service and information. Samy's is the only local store left (I do not count Costco, Best Buy, etc as camera stores) is part of a small chain in Southern California. I will pay more for that service but I know from running computer stores 35 years ago most will buy at the lowest price. They offer information from sales people who are photographers, a great rental dept, etc. Impossible to find online..

Rick Fox

It burns my soul to pay California tax but, I usually buy all my gear at George's in San Diego. It's worth it to me so I can be assured it will work properly, and I get good, solid advice. https://www.georgescamera.com/

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

Then please, stay home!

Morry Loc: Palm Springs, CA

I wonder how many out there in UGH land remember the Fair Trade Law days in the old days in the USA. As I recall stores that sold Fair Trade Law merchandise (such as Leica for example) could only sell it for the Fair Trade Law price. The obvious advantage of this is of course dealers advantage would have to be extra good service which would be for the customer to decide. I wonder how that would work today? When these laws were mostly done away with -- as I recall, the large company's (like Walmart) were able to buy in large quantity cheaper, and obviously would sell it for less money. Most internet business seems to be done this way and as a result many locals are closing up. Where I live there is only one full service camera store -- and I think their days of being open are limited. Too bad. Personally I would rather see one fair price that every business must sell for and let the businesses compete on the basis of good service. Obviously everyone will not agree with me.