End of an Era

[Skyman]

I received an email this morning informing me that Blacktown Camera House, the shop that sold me my first roll of black and white film, the shop that I worked at during uni and for several years off and on after that closed its doors over the weekend. After 45 years of being what the best photographers regarded as being one of the best camera stores around they found it to hard to compete with the raft of online camera stores and discounters. no longer was the staffs superior understanding of all aspects of photography enough to keep the doors open. I learnt more about photography working in that store both from the other staff and from the proffessional photographers who frequented it, than I ever did at university. in fact i remember in my first class at uni actually fixing about half a dozen of the loan cameras that were suffering simply from neglect. I am sorry that i missed its final day, I would have liked to be there simply for the moral support to my old boss. A man who was always more of a friend than a boss and who possesses a photographic (no pun intended) memory for all things photographic, and was more than happy to take the time to explain them to you.

Camera house Blacktown, you will be missed.

[Frog]

A shame for sure, Skyman.
I'm afraid shope like that are going to go the way of drive-in movies.

[another view]

Hard to see this happen - I guess that might be a downside of internet forum groups. It's easier to ask a question on a site like this and get several opinions rather than talk to just one person at a shop. And then it's hard not to pass up a discount, too.

We have one great local shop - nice people who have been there for a long time and they seem to be doing OK but I'm sure it isn't an easy business. We also have a bigger local shop and I stopped in there last week for the first time in about three years. Apparently it takes this long for me to remember why I don't use them. Hard to think places like that survive and others like your local shop close up.

[threelions usa]

also more than likely due to the Ritz/Wolf camera shops opening up all over.

must be a great mark up on cameras. went into one of their stores while in edmonds, Wa and they were knowledgeable and helpful.

we to a local one here, and the guy there, although helpful wasn't up to date with what was going on. i tried to order a battery pack for my e-500 and after getting me to fill out all of the paperwork to pay the bill ahead of time, found out from making a call that it was out of stock and would take 6 weeks to order one. got one online direct from oly in about 5 days.

surely a phone call PRIOR to getting me to fill out all of the paperwork would have been easier.

also went to another local one a bit the other direction (closer to work) and they sold me the wrong 1 gig memory cards for same oly e-500.

part time staff, at poor hourly wage, (nothing wrong with that one has to make a living) but the small mum and pop shops cannot keep up with the locale of the retail chains. TWO within a 10 minute drive from me in either direction.

went to a BIG shop (camera exchange) on richmond strip (main business road) and they have negligible stuff. not much in the way of cokin which is what i wanted. very helpful and knowledgeable but limited stuff available.

called another recommended specialist store, don't stock ANYTHING cokin.

as stated much easier to order online. hate to say it, i try to support my local shops as much as possible, always have done.

again, as stated, with the advent of internet forums and help available usually somewhere in the world 24/7 i would guess that the need for going to the store for info is too much trouble these days.

combined with every tom dick harry (and jane) developing and b & w guys (and gals) developing their own, why have a purely photographic store these days ???

worked in a mum and pop soccer shop and we had trouble competing with eurosport etc. etc. had to cut prices to compete, couldn't always get backup from adidas and nike that the same big guys could. i think because of volume sold online these days, the support to the local shops is almost a non factor. they don't generate the big business and therefore don't count.

shame really.

[Speed]

Sorry to hear about this. I great camera shop is a hard thing to find. Too many chain stores (you know who they are) have college kids running them who may or may not know a thing about photography. Having a store with a knowledgeable staff is a great resource to have, and I know it's closing will be felt by the area photographers.