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| Photo: The Camera Store |
Break-ins at small businesses are always disheartening, but they hit especially close to home when the business is a photography-related one. After all, local camera stores are vital resources and places of community for so many of us. Unfortunately, that’s just what happened to The Camera Store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on October 23.
The Camera Store, also well-known for its YouTube channel, recently shared news of the break-in on its blog. It explained that at approximately 2:50 a.m. MDT, an individual forcefully entered the store. That person targeted two of the store’s high-end Nikon and Sony showcases, shattering the glass on the display case and stealing the gear inside. Surveillance video The Camera Store shared shows the thief filling a hockey roller bag with professional cameras and lenses and then fleeing the scene. The thief was in and out in under two minutes.
The store said it lost nearly $100,000 CAD (roughly $71,500 USD) worth of inventory and shared a list of all the stolen gear along with serial numbers in its blog post. That amount doesn’t include the extensive damage to its display cases and building, which will result in costly repairs, the store said in its post. “We are devastated by this act that not only impacts our staff and customers but also our ability to serve the local photography community,” said Evelyn Drake in the blog post.
This isn’t the first break-in for this particular store, either. In 2018, a break-in resulted in $35,000 CAD of stolen equipment; another in 2023 involved a loss of more than $30,000 in inventory.
The Camera Store is offering a reward of $5000 in-store credit toward a shopping spree for information that leads to a conviction. Anyone with information or who witnessed suspicious activity around the location should contact the Calgary Police Service at 403-266-1234, or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 using case number CA25462267.
Here at DPReview, we greatly value local camera stores. Earlier this month, we even asked our community about their favorite local camera stores for our Question of the Week series to highlight some of the gems around the world. It’s truly disheartening to hear of a break-in at a store that plays such an important role in the photography community.
Unfortunately, this is just one example of the difficulties these types of stores are struggling with to stay in business. It’s a good reminder to all of us to support our local camera stores when possible. Otherwise, we may lose access to these important places.
Our DPREVIEW Tribute:
After nearly 25 years of operation, DPReview closed on 10 April 2023. This difficult decision was part of the annual operating plan review that parent company, Amazon, shared earlier this year.
Over the course of 25 years, DP Review built up a reputation as being one of the most informative places to go for information about that new camera or lens you’re after. DP Review began as an independent reviews site based in the UK in 1998, the brainchild of Philip and Joanna Askey, but it was eventually purchased by Amazon in 2007 and relocated over to Seattle in the USA in 2010.
Cheers DPReview – thanks for the great work and content that guided photographers, videographers and techno junkies the world over!