Local Film Shops

My primary hobby is gaming.  This photography thing is a secondary hobby for me.

In gaming, there is a huge uproar in general about the role of internet retailers in the hobby. See, gaming is a very low-profit industry. Even one or two online purchases can badly hurt your local store.

I don't know what the bottom line looks like in photography, but I suspect it's not much better. Especially with more and more people going digital - you lose a lot of follow-up sales when the media is re-writable and anyone with a printer can create decent prints.

I will not take my film to be processed anywhere I can't visit in person.  In fact, I require such a visit before I turn my first roll in.  I just want to make sure that the people I'm trusting with my film know more than I do about photography, and that the bulk of my money is supporting a local economy.

Thankfully, I live in the Seattle area. We are rich with decent camera shops at a wide variety of prices.  I'm in Everett, so Ken's Camera is my first choice.  They're open Saturdays, and the guy knows his stuff.  And has some screaming good bargains.

I work in Tukwila, so I'll go to Tall's Camera on my lunch break occasionally.They're much more digital than film these days, but several of the staffers can still talk film intelligently (which I appreciate).

When it comes to the more obscure film types - 4x5 Sheet and 127 Roll, there are places downtown that can handle it.  Panda and Glazer's and Moon Camera.  But I've been sending that film to Blue Moon in Portland. Because when I walk into Glazer's, I feel ... uncomfortable.  I don't know what it is about the store, but I feel less like a co-hobbyist and more like a customer.  Blue Moon made me feel like a teammate or a partner. It helps that Blue Moon isn't any more expensive than the others, either. Even when you factor shipping into the equation.

And I've never had them steer me wrong.  Several times, now, I've sent them film that didn't turn out and they discounted the amount they charged me. Or didn't scan the negative that didn't turn out (and then didn't charge me for that negative, either).

It's a degree of honesty that probably doesn't help their bottom line on a case-by-case, but it certainly has kept me coming back as often as I could afford to do so. And I'm likely to keep on doing so into the future.

I honestly don't have a grudge against the Ritz Empire, either - Cameras West locally is part of the Kits/Ritz family of stores. And I know that some of them are ... not good. But the one that's a block from my office seems to have a manager with a good head on his shoulders who knows about film photography.

It's my backup plan. Once I move, I won't have much access to Ken's - which is a shame. It's a good shop.

I need to see if there is a good photography shop near my new house ...