An old thread, but an ongoing problem. This was Arpi on La Rambla in Barcelona, and which closed at the end of last year. The closure is partly because of the immense tourist pressure on the area, whereby only downmarket tourist trinket shops and places for food and drink survive.
The shop was in two parts, with a front on La Rambla and a second multi-floor shop inside what otherwise looked like a residential building. This was a treasure trove of older cameras and film gear.
It is tempting to see the closure of shops like this in Barcelona as part of a general economic problem, but I suspect that it has more to do with sclerotic business practises than anything else. Stores like this probably derived much of their business from official (government) work, directly or indirectly, and which for a long time allowed them to receive inflated prices for goods and services. When this dried up as a result of digital cameras and the collapse of professional photographic services, many photographic businesses here failed to adapt.
The largest remaining "traditional" photographic shop in Barcelona is probably Casanova. They have many of the same problems as Arpi, with seemingly random prices which are sometimes competitive and sometimes absurd. Most astonishing is the price of Leica gear, new or second-hand. I can buy from bricks-and-mortar dealers in London at prices often 20-30% lower than Casanova.
