The Only Answer to that Photo Store Question
With photography as a hobby I routinely network with assorted photographers and get asked questions about the area. One of the recurring questions is “What’s a good photography store in Portland.” And regardless of where it’s asked, I always give the same answer. Browsing online message boards, it seems others give the same answer. Are there some hidden gems or is Pro Photo Supply really the deal?
I had another good Pro Photo experience on Friday morning, heading down there to check out tripods and ballheads. I would’ve loved to shop around if I thought there was a point but past experiences tell me that Pro Photo is where I should go. Camera World, Ritz, and Kit’s are all corporate… and not corporate in the “we’ve got everything cheaper” way… corporate in the “we’ve got clueless salesdrones” way. I love the fact that Pro Photo has knowledgeable staff and a wide variety of equipment and supplies in stock. Does anyone else in Portland have a rental department with the same selection and reasonable prices? If so, please speak up… while I love Pro Photo, I also love the competition of capitalism.
I know we have a ton of photographers around town… feel free to chime in and say I’m right, or tell me I’m full of it.
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I’m partial to Pro Photo Supply, but Citizen’s Photo is another good place in town. Checkout their website http://www.citizensphoto.com/
Pro Photo has a great selection, and their prices are about 2-5% more than Internet prices, and not every minutae piece of photo kit is always available (though they do have a lot!), but a) their products are available immediately, and b) they’re local.
A good deal, all around.
Pro Photo is one of the few reasons I travel from the burbs to downtown. They actually have a parking lot!
Pro Photo and Citizen’s are both quite good, I agree. Tymer’s in Vancouver some years ago used to be decent as well, but I haven’t been there lately so I can’t pass judgement.
Generally, though, I also enjoy Glazer’s Camera Supply in Seattle, not far from Seattle Center. Large, knowledgeable people, and have everything that you need new and old.
Google them.
I think Ritz owns Camera World and Kits now. I know they own the latter; the last time I was in Camera World (maybe a week ago), everything was branded Ritz. It’s disappointing.
Ritz has owned Camera World for several years now. I haven’t bothered to go in since. Suburban Photo in Beaverton used to be a good, local, place in the westside burbs for film based supplies but they closed in September. My analysis of their demise is they didn’t jump on the digital bandwagon soon enough and got left behind. (I also think the owners wanted to retire.) There were some great bargains during the last month they were open!
If you spend any time browsing the various Portland-area photo pool on Flickr, you’ll see a lot of activity related to Blue Moon Camera & Machine.
http://www.bluemooncamera.com/