Closed Camera Stores - We Miss You!

Not really a store, but Kerner Optical closed it's doors late last year.
Kerner had originally been the practical special effects division of ILM.
Most of the major miniature based special effects from the last 30 years was shot there.
Everything was auctioned off, so when it came time to pick stuff up, I was able to get in and take a few photos

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City Photo on Govt St, Victoria BC spent way to much money there back in the late 70's and 80's....tiny store but packed to gunnels
 
definitely! my first decent camera came from Heller's - talked Leica with him a bit, but alas, I was on a Pentax budget.

Granted, these days the Leica usually stays home while the Pentax 67II goes out to play, but still.... wish there were still places like Hellers - and people like Mr Heller - around here.


Stefan Wood said:
Heller's Camera in Bethesda MD. THAT was a camera store!!
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I miss the "old" KEH--first on Spring St in Atlanta and then an absolutely GREAT store on 14th street. Many days, you could even talk to King Grant, the founder.
They had cabinets full of old Nikon and Leica, that you could see, feel and touch--and of course, even buy! Lots of knowledgeable folks working there, too.
Was a great retail store--next door, almost, to the big pre-Ritz Wolf camera on 14th street. Wolf's also had a great used dept. Days long gone...
Paul
 
1.Frank Martin on Kingsland Road E8, Hackney East London.
2.Videovent on Essex Road, Islington N1, North London.
3.Leopolds on Hunter Street WC1, Central London.
4.Kingsley Photographic on Tottenham Court Road W1, Central London.
They are the ones I used to regularly go to. Plenty more gone in London. Same with nice cheap independent record and clothes shops not to mention coffee shops. Very few left now. RIP. All replaced by bland souless chains. Shame I don't have any photos, but how was I to predict the future?
 
Two that I remember with special fondness are Herman Lamb's store in Chattanooga, TN (I think it was called Camera Center, but not sure -- it's been gone a long time) and Brown's Camera in Miami. His last location, as far as I know, was on Biscayne Blvd. just north of 79th St. He was quite the Leica specialist. In 1968 or '69 I didn't buy a pristine M3 with 50mm Summicron from him for $275. Been kicking myself ever since. I've always wondered how my photographic career would have gone if I had started with rangefinders instead of a Nikon F.
 
I miss Superior Bulk Film!

I miss Superior Bulk Film!

In Chicago, where they had so many bizarre and wonderful emulsions for my double-8mm bolex cameras. Video killed the film star!
 
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
 
My recollection is that there were two main camera stores in St Joseph, MO, where I grew up. One stayed open at least until the late 60s, as I recall going in there on leave from Vietnam and being invited to a football game at Lawrence, Kansas. Some at the shop had been active in the St. Joseph Camera Club. All were very knowledgeable and loved photography. They were a class act, making recommendations based on what they thought was right for the customer, not what would make them a bigger buck. They developed and printed on site, sold cameras and darkroom supplies. I wish I could remember the store's name, but it has just been too long since I was even in St. Joe, much less in that store.

Another that I think deserves mention, is Spiratone. They were mainly a mail order store, but I believe they also had a retail outlet. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I bought a lot by mail from them when I was in Korea. Film, lenses and darkroom supplies. They also had a line of lenses and cameras, as well as unusual but useful photographic accessories. I still have and use an 18mm lens I bought from them about 1975. I bought my first Adox film from them.
 
Century Camera, first in Highland Park, and then Royal Oak, Michigan. I bought a Leica III Mod. F from Joe Dworkin, the owner, in about 1962. Had to take a city bus to get there, then transfer. Camera cost me $45-, and I got a 50mm LTM Nikkor to go with it, for another 25-. Century, Joe, and his wife Grace took care of me for may years, and are much missed.
 
Jerry's Cameras in Toronto. Small shop at Yonge and Dundas, fav hangout for newspaper photographers. Miss it tons, got my first camera there and took forever to pay it off on lay away. King Cameras was another nice shop in Toronto. Johnny Maiola worked/ hung out there. Really nice guy.
 
Fishkin Bros. in Perth Amboy NJ was the biggest store in the entire state! Leica, Hassy, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Fuji, Minolta, Mamiya, Kowa, Koni-Omega, Sinar, entire darkroom dept., film dept., repair dept., lighting dept., large format, new, used, they had it ALL! Seemless paper in 12' rolls (or were they 10'?), and the entire staff KNEW you and could help you find something.

Sadly the store closed due to mail-order taking-over cause cheap-ass photogs didn't want to pay sales tax (even though it was cut in half in a Urban Enterprise Zone) or $10.00 more than what you could get it for in NYC! Really sorry to see it go. An institution, known throughout the industry.

And more important--you made FRIENDS!
 
St. Louis Photo, which became City Photo, which became something else - City Mac, I think - until it finally succumbed to market pressures, I guess. Also Jefferson Camera in St. Louis, as well as OJ Photo in one of the St. Louis suburbs. OJ still has a shop, but really scaled down. When I first went there they had a tremendous stock of papers - Agfa, Kodak, all the best stuff for the darkroom - as well as high end cameras and some terrific staff. But my favorite was probably St. Louis Photo. Truly a pro shop that also was very patient with a young newbie. They are gone - now a parking garage for St. Louis University - and I still wish I could go in there and buy a brick of Tri-X...
 
Fairborn Camera and Video in Fairborn Ohio.
In business since the 40's and owned by the same family right to the end.

I was lucky enough to work there from 1998 until the store closed in 2010. i met a lot of amazing people in that time. Most of my best friends today were people I met while I was behind the counter at Fairborn Camera.

FCV was a long time Leica dealer and many of the "Leica elite" were regular customers.

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Leica Demo Day probably 1999-2000
Pictured in the center is Roger Pelham "Mr. Leica" one of the founding members of LHSA and a good friend.
He believed everyone should own a Leica and over the years he probably sold more of them than anyone else on earth.


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Leica bad boy Greg Metzger


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Dick Bailey

Like most of the stores listed here FCV was as much a gathering place for local photogs as it was a store.
 
Altmans for sure. What an amazing store.

Doc McGinnis in Nashville was at one time one of the larger Leica dealers. He had a pharmacy on Gallatin Rd with 90% of the store as camera gear. Doc might have twenty five or more M bodies an a dozens of lenses plus some of the rare goodies. We had several great stores within a short drive.

I also have to mention Alex Thomas in Buffalo. I bought a ton of Rollei SL66 and Rollei 3003 gear from him.
 
Lincoln Camera on Union St in Wilmington DE was the place to go for years.
Cutler Camera in NJ, PA and DE, a small family run chain.

We still have cameras Etc., I hope the outlast Kodak...
 
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