Columbia Photo prepares for final shot
Students will have to buy supplies at University Bookstore or online.
Published Feb. 26, 2010
Columbia Photo became another casualty of the rough economy earlier this month.
After 42 years of service, the business announced it would close its doors permanently in April. General Manager Pat Marks said the company has been struggling for years.
Many photography students depended on the business for photo paper, special black and white film and other supplies the store offered for less than the prices offered at University Bookstore.
"At the beginning of the each semester, we would have groups of students coming in with crumpled pieces of paper with lists on them," Marks said.
Beginner photography students will be the ones most affected by the store's closing.
Photography professor Daniel Farnum said older students work primarily with digital photography.
"I think beginning photographers are more so affected because it's all film for them, they'll have to keep on buying film and they go through paper quicker," Farnum said. "It will affect other students, too, but maybe not on a day-to-day level."
Farnum said the supplies available at the bookstore are comparable to those sold at Columbia Photo, but he suspects students will resort to online sources for the supplies previously bought in Columbia.
"They'll probably have to go (to the bookstore) to some degree," Farnum said. "Internet venues will probably be more common; they probably already are. I think that will become more common. Columbia Photo was the standard. The Craft Studio has some supplies for a pretty decent price."
Senior Tristan Johnson, a beginner student, said she bought her supplies at the bookstore but will probably go online from now on.
"It's an evolution in the photography world," Johnson said. "I did get my stuff at the bookstore, and it was expensive and ridiculous, but I guess people will go online now."
Marks said the reaction from students has been similar to that of the rest of the community. The company's move downtown was an attempt to get a larger student customer base. He also said marketing to students can be a challenging task.
"I think it's the same for the students as everyone," Marks said. "Kind of like, 'Where are we going to go now?' The students are all part of our customer base. When we moved downtown we hoped that base would increase, you know, closer to the university, but we really weren't down there long enough to figure out if that helped."
Farnum said the general reaction from his students has generally been shock. He has advised them to stock up on supplies while they can.
"Columbia Photo was definitely an important resource for all of the photo classes," he said. "I specifically worked with Columbia Photo. I'd give them my supply list every semester, and they would order and stock supplies my students would need."
University Bookstore spokeswoman Michelle Froese said there are no plans in place to lower the cost of standard supplies at the bookstore once Columbia Photo closes. She suggested professors work with the supplies buyer at the bookstore on getting cost-effective options for the supplies they require.
"I honestly don't know yet," Froese said. "I do know that for specialty items like that, the bookstore does not get a price break for buying small quantities of those items. That's why it's more expensive. You tend to get a better price break when you can buy in bulk."
Columbia Photo gave a discount to students that allowed them to stay competitive with the bookstore.
"The bookstore sells some things that are more competitive than other things," Marks said. "They offer the ease of using students charge. I don't know why they overprice their products so much; maybe they thought they could. There's no one else in town with the raw materials the students are looking for."