Keeble and Shuchat Going out of Business

<p>Yesterday, I received a mass-distribution e-mail from the owner Terry Shuchat, who started the store 51 years ago in 1965. I saw him there earlier this year. Little did I know that business was that bad.<br /> <br />K&S is one of the largest camera stores in California. Unfortunately, another brick and mortar store bites the dust in this internet age.</p>

<p>Mountain View Voice news page: http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2016/09/16/palo-altos-keeble--shuchat-photography-to-close-in-october</p>

<p>E-mail from Terry Shuchat:</p>

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It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that Keeble and Shuchat Photography will be closing its doors in October. <br /><br />

It has been a great run for 51 years and I have had a great time doing it. I will miss coming to the store everyday. Ever since I was a little boy growing up in Palo Alto, it was my passion to own a camera store. <br /><br />

Thank you for your enthusiasm for photography, it is a bond we collectively share and it inspired me to have what I feel was the best camera store around.<br /><br />

I am truly blessed to have such success largely due to the loyalty of our customers and my faithful employees. <br /><br />

With much appreciation, humbleness and adoration I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was a dream come true.<br /><br />

Terry Shuchat

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<p>Unfortunately, another brick and mortar store bites the dust in this internet age.</p>

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<p>And then I'm seeing in my local central Texas business community Amazon is opening up a brick & mortar store... http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/20160914-amazon-opens-pop-up-stores-in-arlington-san-antonio-12-states.ece</p>

<p>Uuuh! WHY?! Nothing makes any business sense anywhere these days. Wells Fargo can stay in business even with over 5000 bad employees, Expedia buys AirBnB competitor "Homeaway" for $3.9 Billion.</p>

<p>It's a free for all with no accountability. Why couldn't K&S just cook the books and buy some big obscure disruptive technology for them self and value it in the billions as collateral in order to keep their doors open?</p>

<p>Please also keep in mind that Keeble and Shuchat is in Palo Alto, where Stanford University is. Home owners in Palo Alto include names such as Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, etc. etc. It is not exactly a cheap location.</p>

<p>Shuchat started the store 51 years ago, presumably with Keeble. Therefore, he must at least be in his 70's. K&S has two stores across the street from each other, and Shuchat is the owner of both buildings. He maybe much better off just collecting rent or even sell the buildings, instead of the hassle to run a large camera store. However, he seemed to be in very good shape early this year when I saw him.</p>

<p>The Internet allows much faster communication and business transactions. Unfortunately, it's the quality of communication that suffers as a result.</p>

<p>IMO having a brick & mortar store devoted only to photography and camera equipment especially in "expensive to live" California seems to have its days numbered anyway considering the quality of work coming from iPhones for both photos and video. Of course those iPhone commercials that show a series of very professional looking user created videos does come with a caveat at the end in small print indicating other software and hardware was used to get those results.</p>

<p>Maybe there should be a business catering to that caveat of people behind the scenes.</p>

<p>Well, its a shame. It used to be worth the drive just to view their Leica collection, maybe one of the best in the world. Just today I'm thinking I need a new Domke camera strap. Nowhere in Monterey County to buy one so I have to use B&H...just for a camera strap.</p>

<p>If you buy from B&H you don't have to drive anywhere. Think of the environment.</p>

<p>The closing of a big photo store is tragic. In Chicago we have seen the loss of several large stores, including Calumet, which has revived to some extent in diverse locations. It was always fun to browse.</p>

<p>Now is a different era. Consolidation has brought a change of management to many businesses, with new managers who have never worked for a living. I buy a lot of office supplies, and recently nothing I need has been in stock in useful quantities. It's frustrating to drive two or three miles only to have a clerk tell you "we can order that for you." As a result, I buy pencil lead and envelopes from Amazon (among other things). I only drive to make money, not spend it.</p>

<p>Why haven't I heard of K&S in all these 51 years? Is it because I've never step foot in California in my entire life? How well known is this company?</p>

<p>How many of their customers throughout the years were browsers like Edward versus buyers? I still don't know how OfficeMax keeps their doors open when the few times I'm there I see maybe two or three customers who are mostly browsing with a few making small item purchases. No printers or computers.</p>

<p>Were you a regular customer, Shun?</p>

The only stores I miss are the ones that handle consignments of used camera gear. I got a lot of great items that way and sold a few. I feel no guilt at not supporting the few stores that remained. They were grossly understaffed and under stocked. I even buy socks on the internet. Who has time to go "shopping" anymore. Although we here pay a premium on shipments and sometimes returns, the overall savings of time is substantial. Of course, I do miss the fun of window shopping. Except for those clerks who acted like snobby waiters if you were just looking. Oh well. C'est la free markets.

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<p>How many of their customers throughout the years were browsers like Edward versus buyers? </p>

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<p> <br>

That's not accurate. I bought a lot of equipment from Helix over the years, but liked to browse through the store at the same time. I needed more than curiosity to drive 70 miles round trip. I never handle an item in a store then buy it on line, even if it cost less, as a matter of ethics. I bought several scanners and printers from Officemax too, as well as routine supplies. Since they merged with Office Depot, they stopped stocking the items I used regularly, or have them only in packs of 5 when I needed 50.<br>

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I feel no guilt if I do my homework on line, shop on line then buy on line. </p>

<p>Even though I live in LA, I was a regular customer at K&S. I have family that live in the Bay Area so I'd visit a few times a year and most visits would walk out with something such as film, a Sekonic L-508 meter, maybe a book, some darkroom items (at one time they had a huge dedicated darkroom section) such as those amber glass bottles that I couldn't find in any camera stores here in LA, a Mamiya 7 I rented, and so on. I've gotten to know a number of employees there on a first name basis and one of them became one of my first "fans" of my street photography. So yeah, I'm very disappointed. I spoke with one of the employees yesterday and he agreed, camera sales have been in sharp decline as more and more people simply just use their phone while others buy their DSLR's at big box stores or online and then come to K&S to ask how to use it.</p>

<p>It's a shame they're going out of business. Keeble & Shuchat is the best camera store on the San Francisco peninsula. I've been a regular customer for 25 years and just recently bought a Nikon lens there. The friendly owner, Terry Shuchat, has a huge antique camera collection that's displayed on high shelves in both of his buildings. He also has the largest Leica collection outside Germany that's on public display. I wrote an article about it for Shutterbug in 1992. The article is still available on my personal website at http://www.halfhill.com/shuchat.html.</p>

<p>I wonder how B&H feels about having to deal with selling and shipping all these small we used to by locally.</p>

<p>It's a shame. The guys in the used department are very knowledgeable and helpful, and the prices compare favorably to those at KEH. The owner's collection (not the Leica one, but the main one) is pretty amazing with loads of antiques. I'll be going by one last time.</p>

 

 

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<p>I wonder how B&H feels about having to deal with selling and shipping all these small we used to by locally.</p>

 

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<p>Companies that use the internet are flourishing, those that do not are shrinking and dying. Those that use it poorly, like Sears and other anchor stores aren't doing so well either.</p>

<p>Nothing personal, just business.</p>

 

 

<p>I agree with Shun, the guy is wanting to retire. The buildings are worth a fortune and only a brave soul would take over a camera store like this as a going concern. He can no doubt earn a guaranteed income by renting them out or by selling them off. The internet takes some of the blame, but only some of it. The poor owners want to put their feet up: I don't blame them.</p>

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<p>I wonder how B&H feels about having to deal with selling and shipping all these small we used to by locally.</p>

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<p>Regarding K&S closing, our thoughts are with the soon-to-be unemployed staff. </p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Talked to a colleague yesterday. He also deals with K&S quite a bit and said as far as he knows the owner has been ill. Again, he started the store 51 years ago; therefore age and health seems to be part of the equation although he did mention that his son in law would have been able to take over.</p>

<p>One thing that strikes me is that every time I go to K&S, they seem to have a lot of sales people standing around. Quite a few of them have been around since I moved into the area and went to K&S for the first time in year 2000. Therefore, they seem to have quite a few long-time employees. Employees cost money; having too many of them relative to the amount of business you have is rarely a good thing.</p>

<p>Back in the 1990's, I lived in New Jersey and my "local" camera store was B&H and Adorama. They weren't that local to me but were within an hour of train ride away, and I went there every month. The last time I was in New York (and therefore B&H) was in 2008. They had their second floor and lots and lots of employees, but B&H was also full of customers. Manhattan isn't exactly a cheap location either, but those stores manage to do well.</p>

<p>The Helix website was largely oriented toward information rather than sales. They did use eBay and Amazon to a limited extent, mainly to clear excess inventory. Compare this to successful internet marketers like B&H, Adorama and others. K&S has a website which is barely adequate. Where, for example, is information on account and shipping options? Where are the ratings? Product Q&A? Where are the endorsements from professional photographers or their blog sites?</p>

<p>I'm sorry, but Darwin had it right on all counts.</p>

<p>I'm glad my experience with K&S was in person. It was a wonderful place to shop and make inquiries, in a beautiful city in California just half an hour down the coast from me. I never had occasion to look at or care about their web site. It was the sense of human relationship they seemed to foster that meant a lot to me, as well as being able to hold various cameras in my hand, renting one or two for a week before making a purchase, hanging out for an hour or so in an atmosphere that was both welcoming and informative. I have no idea, nor do I much care, what Darwin would have thought about the store and the folks at K&S. I think they provided a great shopping experience and wish them well in retirement. </p>

<p>From 1994 to 2005 I worked at a small tech startup a block away from K&S. Always enjoyed dropping by their store during my lunch hour, whether to just look around or purchase what I needed. California Ave has changed dramatically over the years. And not for the best, imo.</p>

<p>I suppose the small bit of good news (for Mr. Shuchat) in an otherwise sad story, is the two buildings (more likely the land) are now worth a small fortune due to insane real estate appreciation in Palo Alto.</p>

<p>The San Francisco Bay Area NBC TV station has a short news video interviewing Terry Shuchat: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Long-Standing-Palo-Alto-Camera-Shop-Closing-Its-Doors--394055511.html</p>

<p>Thanx, Shun!</p>

<p>In Los Angeles it's a strange experience. Samy's Camera has several locations and every time I drop into one of them the place is always crowded. Always. Calumet as we all know has closed and Freestyle rarely has more then a couple of people in it and often times there is nobody in there. Smaller mom&pop stores are still hanging on, Simons, Mel Pierce, Bel Air Camera, and Cam Photo are still in business and sometimes they are busy and sometimes not.</p>