Closed Camera Stores - We Miss You!

[healyzh]

Don Chatterson in Seattle Wash. He really knew the Leica .
Camera world the old one in downtown Portland Or.
The old Citizens on 7th in Portland Or

Is that the Citizen's before they moved around the block to where they are now? I made it in there once before they moved.

Personally I really miss Suburban Photo in Beaverton, Oregon. Three generations of my family considered that to be our main store to go to. It closed because the owner wanted to retire.

I'm really surprised that the store my Grandparents took me to in the mid-80's, when I bought my first camera (a Nikon FM2, that I still use) is still around. About three years ago, I bought my first Hasselblad and my first Rangefinder in there.

 

[hendriphile]

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

OMG that polyester plaid coat! Those polyester shirts! Those polyester ties! Brings back the bad old days 😀

My contribution below is Backyard Photography, THE brick n' mortar store in Yuma, AZ, which closed in 2010 (M3, Summaron f2.8 wide open, 1/8 sec at night), RIP

 

[Mike Riches]

Is that the Citizen's before they moved around the block to where they are now? I made it in there once before they moved.

Personally I really miss Suburban Photo in Beaverton, Oregon. Three generations of my family considered that to be our main store to go to. It closed because the owner wanted to retire.

I'm really surprised that the store my Grandparents took me to in the mid-80's, when I bought my first camera (a Nikon FM2, that I still use) is still around. About three years ago, I bought my first Hasselblad and my first Rangefinder in there.[/QUOTE

 

[Mike Riches]

Yes thats the one , sad to see them downsize and move .Lots of photo togs had lots of good time there .
Suburban was good to . I didn't go there much , did buy my Gitzo there , I still use it .
There always Blue Moon .

 

[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.

 

[rover]

I remember when I was growing up and first started developing film and first had darkroom equipment we got all of our supplies at a department store, Caldor.

Caldor is long gone, and discontinued their photography department prior to closing it's stores, but way back around 1980 they had a full department with chemicals, equipment, everything you could imagine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldor


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_v23/ai_3212502/

 

[bob338]

Oak Park Camera-- Oak Park, Il. One of the first camera stores I bought anything from. Pretty nice staff, huge selection(for a teenager, at least,) priced pretty reasonably.

Kenmore Camera-- San Diego, CA. This was a very strange store over by the old Arena. You could spend an hour digging through the crap piled up in this place. Once in a while, I found something pretty cool. Weird hours, though. The old man who owned the place was a character, you never knew what was gonna come out of his mouth!

There was a cool store in Hollywood, somewhere off the Boulevard, that was fun to look around in. I think it was Lloyd's or Morgan Cameras or something like that. I haven't been in years, but I'm pretty sure it's closed. They had tons of old displays and cameras everywhere, not because they were necessarily cool, but because they just hadn't moved anything around in 30 years.

Wish I could remember all the cool camera stores we used to stop in while on tour. We seemed to find somewhere to buy film or lenses in every city we stopped in.

Bob

 

[oftheherd]

Wow Makinaw! What a neat photo. I did note the folders. And imagine, they were all new!

 

[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]

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]

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]

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.