The marriage of photography and downtown Santa Barbara has come to a sudden end.
Samy’s Camera, the once-mighty store at 530 State St., will close its doors for good on Saturday, after more than two decades in existence. Employees have taught and mentored a generation of customers who walked in with a variety of camera problems, from broken lenses and stuck shutters to film processing and memory cards.
“In a word, it sucks,” said customer Stephen Clampitt, a former Brooks Institute student. “These guys always gave good advice. They were rock solid. It’s sad.”
Samy’s spent more than 20 years in Santa Barbara at three locations, on State, Chapala and Haley streets. Despite the allure and creativity of traditional photography, the business, like many others, fell prey to a changing world around it: the rise of the Internet and iPhones. With and more and more people not seeing value in the Nikon and Canon, and instead shooting from the hip — literally the iPhone in their pockets — the love of the specialty camera shop has faded.
People have also turned to Amazon and the Internet to order camera parts, trading a personal relationship with a knowledgeable employee for convenience and immediate gratification.
“There isn’t enough business to support us,” store manager John Brainerd said. “It’s sad because it’s been a Santa Barbara institution for more than 20 years. Santa Barbara really needs a camera store, but it’s just not viable.”
Brainerd said Samy’s the company will continue, with seven stores in Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Francisco. But the profit margins are slim in Santa Barbara, and there’s no use continuing to fight an uphill battle.
“For the margins we have, we have to do a lot of volume,” Brainerd said. “People use their iPhones to shoot now. It’s not a viable business model.”
Brainerd, a Carpinteria resident, has a wife and two children and said he will take some time off after the store closes and then look to get into a new industry. Maybe some of the people who he helped over the years will return the favor, he said.
The store was busy with customers buzzing about the store on Wednesday, but a mood of sadness filled the air. Employees abruptly broke the news to customers, who returned the exchange with bewilderment.
Santa Barbara resident Tom Kelley was saddened to hear the news of Samy’s closure. He’s a former professional photographer, but now mostly shoots for fun.
“It’s a sad thing,” Kelley said. “Santa Barbara needs a camera store, now we don’t have one.”
He prefers the camera shop when buying a piece of equipment. If he doesn’t like the feel of it in the store he can talk to an employee about other options and buy something else. It’s less personable on the internet to open a package, find you you don’t like it, and then return it by mail.
“I buy all my camera gear here,” Kelley said. “I don’t know of anywhere else in town.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
