Small photo shops around the world

[belgiumreporter]

When i was young we had 3 photo stores in our family and there wasn't a day when i was in one of them to "help out" after school. They lasted untill the end of the seventies when my uncles and aunts one by one passed away.

Now wherever in the world i am, i'm allways on the look out for small family buisness photo shops ( they are getting rarer at an alarming rate). They allways give me that fuzzy warm coming home feeling when i find one.

Whenever i am able i take a picture, so i can have my personal souvenir of each country i visited, not the famous landmarks, but those often very individualistic and unique small shops.

I'll start the series here with this little shop in Reykiavic Iceland, others to follow.



i would appreciate if any of you, around the world should there be such a shop (in or out of buisness) near you, take a pic and publish it here.

[raybar]

The Morgan Camera Shop in Hollywood California has been closed for some years, and looks very sad and lonely now.  Evidently, it was quite the place in its day, but when I went there looking for work in 1976 it seemed like a sleepy little local shop that was likely to close at any moment.

Some historical info:
www.library.ucla.edu/blog/special/2017/04/18/the-morgan-camera-shop

The owner's brother, Willard Morgan, was (allegedly) "the first American photographer to use the 35mm Leica as a professional camera." 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_D_Morgan

1963. It still looked like this when I arrived in Hollywood in 1976 

http://instagr.am/p/BJ55yN4j7MK

A flickr page by TC Morgan, a grandchild of Gilbert Morgan, with some photos 
www.flickr.com/photos/tcmorgan/galleries/72157630689369676/

Another flickr page with some interior shots 
www.flickr.com/photos/13015998@N00/sets/72157605511319503

Finally, an article about 12 closed camera shops. Morgan appears at the bottom of page 1. Frank's Camera in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, appears at the bottom of page 2. Frank was a major mail order dealer for many years, but he operated out of what was basically a local store. 
weburbanist.com/2015/06/21/photo-finished-12-closed-abandoned-camera-stores/

[belgiumreporter]

Thanks Raybar, i thoroughly enjoyed your post, it is exactly the stuff i am looking for.

here's another one of mine : "Photo" shop somwhere on the road to Tây Ninh - Vietnam

[raybar]

The first link, to the UCLA Library, wasn't working for me. I think it's fixed now.

[belgiumreporter]

Here's one of the only photos thats left from our family buisness, my mother in front of my aunts photo shop, Antwerp Belgium, shortly after the war. From what's in the shopwindow it looks like only folders were available...

 

[raybar]

Schaeffer Photo and Camera Supply, where I worked, was located seven short city blocks west of the Morgan Camera Shop I mentioned above, about 625 meters. The building had been the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and didn't look like a camera store. I started with them shortly after they moved into this location. I am almost embarrassed to admit that I do not have a single picture that shows the front of the store. But it is little changed since then, except that Schaeffer's sign is gone.  

Here's an article about the building. Schaeffer's is mentioned in the fourth paragraph from the end. 
ladailymirror.com/2016/02/15/mary-mallory-hollywood-heights-hollywood-chamber-of-commerce-building-promotes-great-architecture/

[belgiumreporter]

Lazerphoto- Wakatane- New Zeeland, they were able to help me out with a second hand Nikon D300s after mine fell in a waterfall. Very kind and helpfull people!

Just a quick shot i took outside the shop they deserve better publicity !




BTW, (second hand selling) photoshops are really hard to find in NZ.

[belgiumreporter]

Cam-X Clarke Quay shopping mall Singapore

Fine selection of classic and new(er) camera gear. Not that cheap, but if you're after something special this (and the other photo shops in the mall) maybe the place to find it. Some shopkeepers are very friendly and helpfull, others are not!

[belgiumreporter]

The only photo shop i could find in Sintra, Portugal...It was closed but when open their main buisness seemed to be the sale of selfie sticks.

[belgiumreporter]

Shopwindow in Altenburg, (former East) Germany, if you're in to East German VEB camera stuff this might be the shop for you!

[paulhofseth]

In these parts, physical camera shops are almost extinct. Even second hand shops live online, hence no photo from me. The next incarnation will be galleries for collectors.

p.

[paulhofseth]

The previous posts inspired me to snap this. One of the handful of camerashops left, now gone. May not qualify as small , but did not belong to a chain, had both MFT, Nikon, Canon and Zeiss in stock and could develop and print Ilford XP2 properly. It closed a year ago, but its signs are still up. Replaced by a framing shop.

p.

[belgiumreporter]

Another "small" photoshop, this time in Funchal on the Isle of Madeira. it used to be the studio of Vicente Gomes da Silva (1827-1906),but is since 2001 transformed into the national photomuseum of Madeira. On display are photos depicting the history of the island and a series of cameras, mainly Zeiss and Kodak wich were used by the Vicentes family. 

[belgiumreporter]

On the deserted beaches of the Greek Chalkidiki region peninsulas. Not all hope was lost when i was able to find a local photoshop where they helped me out with a usb cable wich was needed to fix my broken down GPS system. Still not the place to be should you want the new D6.  






upload pictures

[belgiumreporter]

Here's a small photoshop i've came across at the end of the world. It's Foto Eduardo's at Avenue St martin 353 V9410 Ushuaia Teirra del Fuego Argentina. On display in the shop window was this mamiya 645 set and best wishes for 2020.