RIP Creve Coeur Camera

No, no, not me.  I plan to stick around.  BUT. I received an email yesterday (7/1/2019) from Creve Coeur Camera, announcing that they were closing, After 40+ years in the STL area.  At one point they had 8 locations, but have been dwindling down to just the main store.  And now it will close.  Sad, but not all that surprising.  The timing is a little surprising since it has only been 2 weeks since their last Photopalooza event (which I attended).

Through the years we've purchased several cameras from them, including 2x DSLRs, and at least 3x compact digitals.  Some accessories, and a few print jobs.  But nothing in a probably 2+ years. 

One big issue (for me) was the closing of the Edwardsville store, which was <5 35="" all="" an="" and="" as="" at="" average="" be="" business="" but="" classes="" closed="" convenience...="" do="" easy="" evening.="" events="" fairview="" far="" from="" further="" get="" going="" green="" heights="" held="" home.="" house.="" i="" is="" it="" liked="" main="" miles="" mount="" moved="" my="" nbsp="" never="" not="" of="" office="" on="" p="" point="" rd="" really="" same="" seemed="" so="" something="" still.="" store="" technically="" the="" them.="" them="" then="" time="" to="" was="" weekday="" were="" which="" with="">
Another (long) example:  Last fall, I was looking to upgrade my Nikon DSLR.  I decided to consider more than Nikon, and made a weekend trek down to the Green Mount store, to see what they had.  I explained to the clerk exactly what I was looking for, in great detail.  And he proceeded to show me what they had in the store, which was rather explicitly NOT what I described.  Ticked me off.  So I did some internet research and got my thoughts in order.  A couple of weeks later, I attended the fall Photopalooza (at the main store) where I was able to do some hands on research, talk to the company reps, and some of the teachers.  This was a HUGE value, helped me decided on Mirrorless (rather than DSLR) and a change from Nikon (to Fujifilm).  But I wanted to do a bit more research, and wrap my brain around the investment.  Two weeks later, I called the main store to confirm they had the camera in stock, but they did not.  I explained exactly what I wanted, and asked when when they could get it in stock.  They would have to let me know.  I called back a couple of times, but never got an answer.  Since I needed to have the camera in hand before Christmas (since it was technically a gift from my wife), I gave up after 2 weeks and ordered it on line.  About a week after I had received it, Creve Coeur finally called me back to say it had arrived.  I really wanted to buy from them, but they didn't have it in stock, and were not able to communicate when they would have it.  SO I went elsewhere.  I was actually quite disappointed.

I've been in brick-and-mortar specialty retail (been a 10+ years now), and I can't imagine doing it these days.