Samy’s Santa Barbara camera store closes this weekend

Samy’s Camera has been keeping Santa Barbara area photographers in focus for more than two decades. Now, facing several challenges, the store at 530 State Street will be closing down at the close of business Saturday.

Samy’s will leave the area completely, and not relocate.

The store manager John Brainerd said, “It’s hard. It’s really hard.” He remembers his start and how he lived at the store when it was on Milpas and Haley streets. in the late 1990’s.”I was on the third floor of that first store so I am a 21-year employee.I have been around for a lot,” he said.

The store has been run in the old-fashioned way. Price matching, finding the right gear, taking extra time at the counter and teaching customers about their cameras. It was what this team was known for.

Never about the big ticket items. Just the right camera for the customers needs, budget and skill level.

“There’s so many people, so many relationships that we have had over the years. To see them react the way that they have, it’s hard.”

Samy’s was a big supplier for the now closed Brooks Institute of Photography. That departure and other factors caused mounting issues.

Brainerd said, “we reinvented ourselves in every way that we could. Certainly it started with Brooks, then the recession, and then you have this growing culture of online commerce and it is just really tough for anybody whether you sell cameras or rugs to have a storefront particularly on State street, to make all of that work.”

With the closure this Saturday it’s the end of the all in one camera store in Santa Barbara.

“So we had photo finishing, you could get your camera, you could get rentals, you could get repairs, you could have the service bureau,” said Brainerd.

Some customers pointed out they came to the store for lens and camera rentals on special professional shoots. It was something they could not get anywhere else. The news of the closure will have a ripple impact on their work until other options are found, and there aren’t many.

For the employees they’ve earned and now leave with the most solid recommendation.

Brainerd reflected on those he’s worked with and said, “I am going to remember the people that I work with. People that are here have been here 10 plus years. They are loyal, they have integrity and their skill sets are translatable to a lot of different vocations.”

He said if a recruiter was looking for good workers they should come in now, “because these are an awesome bunch of people, and they are worth it.”

Samy’s previously had operated on Chapala Street and East Haley Street.

The camera store has a chain that is staying open at other locations including Los Angeles, Orange County, Pasadena, and San Francisco.

For more information go to Samy’s Camera website.