Cord Camera.... CC..... ???

Allen Stover

True Grumbler
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Posts
81
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Well, it would appear that there is going to be some new competetion in several cities. Cord Camera is getting into the custom framing business. They have retail store-fronts in Columbus, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, and Cleveland. Along with some other locations like Bloomington, Mansfield, Lancaster, Youngstown, etc.

Total of 38 stores looking to compete for our business...

Cord Camera.... CC.... What do you guys think?
 
I remember visiting their store just Northwest of downtown Columbus several times when I was a camera junkie. They carried pro gear that no one in Dayton would stock. Anyhow, I'm not sure how they could shoe horn a framing design area in there. I'd guess they'd frame off site, as there probably wasn't much room in the building for a framing operation (perhaps a customer area only). Its been 4 or more years since I last visited. I suppose they could have expanded it.

They are not making a big deal of it on their home page.

Wow! They bought Pete's in Cincinnati? I used to visit there as well.
John
 
You want to talk about competition? Go to a yellow pages search and look how many frameshops pop up in san francisco. I counted 86 in one search. I can't imagine what its like in NY. You might think that 86 isnt so bad in a big city like SF but the population of this city is only 750000 and 5000 of those are homeless.
 
Is this a big surprise to anyone?

Did you think the PMA took the PPFA under its wing to bail out the picture framers?

Don't misunderstand. I think the merger has been a good thing and I don't think the PPFA had a real choice. But the retail photo shops have been salivating over our industry for as long as I've been in business and probably much longer.
 
Actually, the partnership of framing & photography goes back to Civil War times - photographers need something to deliver their "tin-types" in for presentation and where most towns had a photography studio, they didn't have a frame shop so enterprising photographers had a nice sideline.

The photo studio we purchased back in 1973 had always done picture framing - it was established in 1905 - and my love of this business grew out of that.

Over the years, we have taught many photographers/artists how to frame and several of them included it as part of their own business model.
 
Some good years ago I had listed almost 200 framers in Manhattan alone. But then I always thought that New York was a waste in this respect with its incredible density of framing shops. Those of you who were familiar with New York back in the 80s and 90s know what that city was like.
But you are right, Brian, San Francisco is incredibly active and potent a frame market. I have a suspicion that everything that pertains to the arts must be well respected and in demand in your city, which also is home for a very large Asian community that may not be helpful to good framing if any framing at all.
 
Allen this was my thought. Mike thought I was CC, seems CC's isp is the same as mine, Worthington Ohio.
 
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