[Michael Piziak]

This post was inspired by the reading of how camera stores are closing left and right and soon to be a thing of the past, but it's not just about camera stores...

It's about brick and mortar stores closing in general. And it's been mainly due to technological advances. I believe, well I know, we have all lost a certain "experience" by not being able to go to these non existent stores anymore.

Remember going to a record store? Well, years ago, Apple's iTunes was largely responsible to the beginning of their downfall. Steve Jobs accomplished what no one else was able to at the time, and that was convince the record industry to start selling music online. All of a sudden, we were able to conveniently browse, buy, and download music to our iPods. But what did we lose? When the record stores closed down, we lost the experience of getting in our cars, driving to the record store, & walking around and browsing the records, tapes, or cd's. Artwork played a big role in what we bought (judging a book by its cover we did). We lost the human experience. Sometimes we'd see someone we knew and have a conversation with them. Sometimes we talked to the store employees about music or other things.

We remember the movie video stores. First, many of them were start up by mom and pops. Then Blockbusters came along and caused some of them to close. Often, with our families, we'd all make a special trip to the video store to rent movies. We'd be dismayed if the VHS tape wasn't behind the display, as it meant someone else had rented the movie. One local mom and pop video rental store would illegally copy the VHS movies to Beta tapes - something I liked because I had a Betamax at the time (I use to be a major videofile and bought magazines that touted how Beta was superior in video and sound to VHS). Sometimes we'd pick up a bag or two of microwave pop corn upon checkout, to go along with the movie(s). Then came along the ability to rent movies from our cable companies, and the video rental stores started to go under. Gone was the experience... Thankfully though, the experience of going to the movies is still with us. The experience of the big screen still can't be reproduced on our high tech flat screen tv's, and the film industry still makes sure the latest Spiderman or Batman movie is only available in theaters (the Pandemic changed that for some time, as movies were released through our cable companies, but the pandemic is nearing an end and new movies will be released only at theaters again soon). Let's hope that Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video never replace the movie theater experience - nothing compares with going to the movies!

Then, circling back to the beginning - the photography/camera store. Local to me, a camera store closed its doors after 70 years of being in business. A placed called Merrill Camera in an old store in downtown Charleston, West Virginia. I went there to buy a camera bag for my new Pentax dslr. The first time I went in there with the Pentax k2000 that my ex-wife had purchased as a gift for me. Well, the owner kept going on and on about how he liked Pentax - even though he didn't sell them, but he use to sell them, and he still liked them a lot. I purchased a Lowepro camera back pack from him. But the store is gone, and no longer do people go in there to hold a camera, buy a Coken filter, or purchase a camera bag. The experience is gone.

I wonder what brick and mortar stores will be next to close their doors and take along our experiences with them....


Comments please

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Last edited by Michael Piziak; 03-05-2022 at 08:16 PM.

[wadge22]

Gone too are the jobs of the clerks in those mom and pop stores, and the financial independence for the mom and pop themselves who owned the store.

You mentioned camera stores, movie rentals, and record stores. We can also already include hardware stores, sporting goods, jewelers, clothing and shoe retailers, bookstores, musical instrument shops, coffee shops, independent hotels and B&Bs, travel agents, theaters, electronics shops, pretty much any repair places, small grocers, butchers, bakeries, produce stands, pharmacies... all pretty much gone to consolidation and monopoly (I don't agree when people say technology is the main culprit). Not far behind are the restaurants and bars, barbers and salons, laundries, florists, gyms, even dentists and doctors...

[RobA_Oz]

You might have noticed that Amazon has announced that their foray into bricks & mortar stores is being abandoned. Ironic, because they were largely responsible for the closure of so many others, including in the photographic retail sector, and having devastated so many jobs and retail outlets in both high streets and malls, they seemed to think they could walk in and resurrect it, at least in the book sales area.

You’ve also got Apple’s part in the music industry changes a little askew. The first mp3 players pre-dated the iPod by some years, and they were mostly populated by pirated copies of music tracks. Apple helped regularise the use of digital music files by paying copyright holders for content. Piracy of music isn’t dead, but at least there’s a substantial amount of money now going to production companies and musicians, thanks mainly to Apple’s leadership.

There are real villains in this, not the least of whom was (possibly still is) the world’s most successful non-B&M sales operation, Amway. Their “dealers” used to blatantly tell customers to go to a store to select what they wanted (clothes, shoes etc) and then come back to the Amway seller, who would source it cheaper. Parasites. They used to deny being pyramid sellers, but I can’t think of a better term to describe them.

Personally, I prefer to actually see and touch anything material that I might buy, but the opportunity to do so is being gradually eroded. I haven’t bought a Pentax camera in a retail non-online store since my *istD, although I've bought a couple of other brands from a local B&M store (Hobart, Tasmania. Population circa 200,000 and a wild stretch of water or an hour’s flight from the nearest big smoke).

Still, it’s not all bad news. I see that a drone delivery service is starting up in a couple of places in Oz. At least that’ll put a stop to the 3rd-world UberEats exploitation of immigrants, and put the pressure on government to start assisting growth in real jobs.

Off the soap-box, now.

[nicolpa47]

Gone too are the jobs of the clerks in those mom and pop stores, and the financial independence for the mom and pop themselves who owned the store.

This aspect is often overlooked. My parents ran one or two(for a period) small shops from the late 1940s until 1978. Those shops initially provided a good living which declined over time for a variety of reasons. Wishing to act for people like my parents was a major reason why, as a qualified accountant, I chose to work in a small local practice.

There are many reasons why smaller independent businesses have closed even aside from changes in fashion and technical changes(not always progress) - increased property costs, the cost of various business rules and regulations, the cost of technical advances, software and hardware - but the result is often that jobs that supported families have been replaced with jobs that hardly pay a living wage. Shops are not alone of course, because a vast number of fairly well paid clerical and admin jobs have been swept away over the last 50 years.

We choose to call it progress.

[Lord Lucan]

My main problem with mail deliveries is the weather. It is wet in the hills of rural South Wales. I have a large mail box by the main gate to the road with a number combination, but even so it leaks in heavy rain and many couriers dont bother with it, and just leave stuff on the ground behind the gate post. We have had a number of mail order online order items in paper or cardboard wrappings that have been damaged by the rain. I have a second smaller gate in a high wall a little further along the road and sometimes a courier has dropped the parcel over this 6 ft high gate.

I travelled a long way to a B&M camera shop to buy my camera and lens rather than risk a mail delivery, and would try to do the same for anything else expensive.

The regular postman (ie the Royal Mail) is not so bad, he knows the place and uses the mail box. The problem is with the other couriers (Hermes, DHL etc) as they don't seem to employ the same people for more than a week, cannot find the place half the time (claiming no-one was in), don't bother with the mail box combination half the time, and often attempt to come in the dark when it is near impossible to find my place if you don't know it. But they are slightly cheaper than Royal Mail, I'm told - can't imagine why, considering with the amount of fuel they must use first getting out to me and then casting around trying to find me.

[aslyfox]

. , .the store is gone, and no longer do people go in there to hold a camera, buy a Coken filter, or purchase a camera bag. The experience is gone. . .. .

add one thing -

learning

at least that was one of the big things I gained by going into Wolfe's Camera and talking to the staff there

https://wolfes.com/

________

Time marches on

and it can be mean while it happens

look back at History and see the effect of " progress " on human life, the way we live, work and survive

often it comes with a " price "

[ProfessorBuzz]

Yes, aslyflox, the LEARNING! Have a problem? Ask the camera store people? Wanna experience something - try it at the camera store. Plus many of the staff had a "side hustle" getting paid to do photography, and could recognize people with some talent that just needed a little encouragement. A couple of the old cameras stores I visit also used to keep me in mind for some older parts that came in - they had a "junk bin" for every brand, and would often say - check out the odds and ends while you are at it, letting me dive in to the bits and pieces, and get a few accessories for a song.


Clubs are another thing that fills some of that gap, and the pandemic put the crunch on them, until Zoom came along.

[que es tu]

I never had the experience of going to a camera store in the "old days", but we actually still have one in Asheville, NC!! It is called Ball Photo and they mostly sell used gear. Lots of legacy Pentax, Minolta, Olympus, and of course Canon and Nikon. It is great to go there and talk shop with them. I check there first when looking for an item, and though it costs 30% more than B&H, I'm happier with the personal experience at Ball Photo. We have a record store here, too, called Harvest Records, where I buy my CDs and my oldest son buys his albums. Again, lots of fun to talk with music lovers and browse the old vinyl. That is all we have left here. I can't believe they weathered the pandemic, but they are still here!!

[ChrisPlatt]

The father of my sister's ex-husband owned a camera shop for many years, until the early 1980's.
His work there supported a stable middle class life including the purchase of a home and higher education for two sons.

At their wedding everyone on that side of the family seemed to own a Canon film SLR, the brand his store carried...

Chris

[pepperberry farm]

I am a late-comer to photography, so I've never held a camera or lens in any local photo store - there simply aren't any out here....

nearest to me is a minimum 2 hour drive (one way)...

I have been blessed, however, with a world of experience and reviews online, mainly here at PF - so I rely almost completely on the users here for feedback....

and sometimes, I just take a wild-flyer at photo equipment....


on a broader scale, I can't think of a single segment of the supply industry that hasn't suffered due to the influx of the big-box-brands or online shopping....

I also cannot say that my shopping habits aren't a product of that influx - my grocery shopping is done at WM, anything else I want or need is done online, usually through Amazon

(how can you beat a 20' extension ladder bought and sold with free shipping, when it wouldn't have fit in my truck?)

[VSTAR]

You can add motorcycle and car dealerships. Motorcycle companies used to have test ride days, and even before Covid those have mainly disappeared. So you are buying a motorcycle without ever trying it out. Now there are car dealerships where they bring the car to you once you know what u want, and there is a North American used car company…you have to purchase the vehicle without seeing or trying it out and if you do. It like it, then return it.

[luftfluss]

I don't miss much about the B&M shopping experience.

Buying stuff online saves me time to do things other than deal with a salesperson who is receiving kickbacks and other incentives.

[35mmfilmfan]

Hope this relevant - so-called 'Big' stores in the UK that I miss are (in no order) : Woolworths, Jessops, Millets, HMV, Virgin, Tower Records and Hatchards. Others may be added to this list as and when.

[Lord Lucan]

stores in the UK that I miss are (in no order) : Woolworths, Jessops, Millets ....

Some Jessops are also still around, but my nearest is now in Bath. There used to be one at Cribbs Causway, Bristol, but the last time I went there was 8 years ago and they had no Pentax and no film stock.

Millets still have many high street stores, though perhaps not where you are. For the benefit of non-UK readers, they are primarily an outdoor clothing shop, and B&M clothing shops are likely to stay around longer than most. I would not buy a pair of shoes, boots, trousers or a jacket without first trying them on.

[ChrisPlatt]

I don't miss much about the B&M shopping experience.

In the 1990's between service calls in Manhattan I used to stop at B&H when I could find a parking meter nearby on Ninth Avenue.

B&H had a showcase with many of the most desirable cameras and lenses near the door when you first walked in.
My friend Bob Hickey used to call it "The Drool Case"! I wonder if it's still there?

At lunch time pro photographers often sent their assistants - many were ex-models - in to pick up more film.
So there was sometimes much more to admire there than the latest and greatest film camera.

I've been there a couple times since digital took over. They still have a film counter and darkroom department but it's just not the same for me...

Chris