Foggy morning in San Jose airport
Yesterday I arrived in SF for a conference and went to visit a photo store near my hotel. The store is Gasser’s, and this store was recommended to me when I visited Glazier’s with Ray back in September in Seattle. Glazier’s if you remember, was HUGE; three storefronts, a large active darkroom section, crowded, etc. I got to chatting with the salesperson in Glazier’s and he talked about large active camera stores on the West Coast and mentioned Gasser’s. So, being only a couple blocks from the place, I went.
Well, I was stunned and disappointed. The store totally felt like it was on the verge of shutting down. Almost no stock in the darkroom section at all (I mean, literally a couple of bags of D-76 powder, a couple bottles of HC-100, no Ilford chemistry at all; the film fridge was almost empty (I asked for a couple rolls of Reala and was told “nope, none left”). Now, I can understand the shift away from traditional, but THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY INKJET PAPER EITHER. They stocked it, mind you, but they had a couple boxes of 8 1/2 x 11 EPSON glossy, a couple of generic brand boxes, and that was it.
I wandered over to their camera section and that, too, looked pretty barren. Now, if Dodd’s Camera in Cleveland can feel alive, and so does Glazier’s (not only alive but thriving) and stores in Phoenix can be working it out, what’s up with Gasser’s? I mean, a big-time art college is literally right up the block, (signs telling students about which films had been discontinued, thank you very much) and you would think those students would keep the place hopping. Mind you, it looked like at one time it was thriving, but today it looked very run-down.
I was very sad. Bought a couple rolls of HP5 and went about my way. I am going to visit APUG and ask there what is up with that place. There has to be a reason why, in the heart of art-friendly SF, this store is in such bad shape.
I also visited the SFMOMA, which I will talk about in my next post.
