Jack's Camera Shop selling building, ballroom and pieces of history

MUNCIE, Ind. − Photography really doesn't capture moments. It just reflects the light for a split second and keeps that image while time, relentlessly, moves on through. Nothing captures time.

But some people and places ride along into the future easier than others. The folks at Jack's Camera Shop in downtown Muncie have made the trip through darkrooms into digital well, better than most photo retailers from back in the day. They are still in business, meeting customers by appointment and selling products, old school and new, online. Still, time has come for the owners to release some of the pieces they've gathered along the way.

Among them, the impressive three-story building at the northeast corner of Jefferson and Main streets downtown. It is now for sale. Many of the requirements for brick-and-mortar store − shelving, display cases, along with some stock, maybe a poster or a sign, will be placed on the parking lot at the rear of the building later this month and sold, said Sherry Powell, co-owner of the business with her husband, Mike Powell.

In 1973 Mike Powell bought Jack's from the store's founder, Jack Walters, who established the business downtown in 1948. The store had other locations, including Charles Street, said Sherry Powell. Mike Powell moved the store to Main and Jefferson in the late 1970s.

The store became a hub for photographers and Ball State University students in the art and journalism departments on campus. The store was where students not only bought the products they needed, it was also where many better learned how to use the cameras, flashes, darkroom enlargers, filters and chemicals that were then the basic materials for the trade and art of photography.

"We weren't just about selling, ever," said Sherry Powell.

And they still aren't. But the arrival of digital photography at the end of the 20th century changed everything in the business. Film and darkrooms largely disappeared from use for most casual photographers and the ubiquitous camera function on smart phones replaced the purchase and use of actual cameras for many consumers.

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Digital photography changed camera stores' business models

Online shopping largely replaced the physical camera stores. Sherry Powell recalls would-be customers who would come and ask her questions at the store, like customers always did. Queries about the equipment and what to buy. The things Jack's sold. The people would then pull out their phone and start ordering it from the manufacturer online based on her advice.

"They'd do it right in front of you," she said.

The store adapted and became good at selling through eBay and have continued their online business.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit a couple of years ago, Sherry Powell said she and Mike decided to close their retail store at the corner.

In addition to the building on the corner in the 300 East Main Street, the Powells also own 308 and 312 East Main Street. Their offices have moved east down the street to a store fronts where they keep the online orders going with the help of longtime employee Chris Odle. Jack's also has some new and use product lines available on site but Sherry Powell cautions people coming from out of town to call first to make sure someone will be available to help them.

And for people who enjoy taking pictures the old way, Jack's still sells 35 mm film and photographic paper.

"Star Photo in Anderson still develops film" Sherry Powell added.

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Last week she was in the throes of figuring out what to put into the upcoming sale and what to keep. Lenses, office furniture, frames, small devices, signs, some neon, are all candidates for the parking lot sale. Mike Powell is currently recovering from a fall so Sherry is keeping very busy deciding what to offer the public.

About Jack's Camera Shop's building

Among the most interesting items the Powells have for sale will go with the building at 300 E. Main Street. It's actually most of the third floor − a ballroom, clearly majestic in its day, with soaring arches across its ceiling and clearly created with room for banquets, performances and gatherings of all sorts.

The building was constructed as home for the Commercial Club of Muncie in 1904, according to local historian Chris Flook. The Commercial Club was a forerunner of the the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.

"The building was a 'classical revival' style," Flook said. and it cost about $30,000, which he said was a big sum at the time.

Dressing rooms and other areas on the third floor remain and apparently exist to serve the ballroom space. A framed photo of a banquet that was conducted in the room at what appears not too far after the turn of the 20th century, hangs on an upper floor wall. It displays a mammoth gathering of well dressed men. The photo was used on the cover of the 1987-88 annual report for the local Chamber of Commerce.

Photography:A look inside Jack's Camera Shop

Inside the room, plaster is broken in many places. The gas utility for the community is believed to have to have located at the building at some point and placed a dumb waiter in the middle of the ballroom, Sherry Powell said. Aged as it is, the ballroom remains a remarkable space in the city.

At one time, Sherry Powell said she and Mike considered converting the room into living space but in the end decided that the cost of converting it into a home and maintaining was too much.

For a while, at least, the ballroom no longer fit its time.

Jack's hosting parking lot sale

The parking lot sale for Jack's Camera Shop will be conducted in the lot near Washington and Jefferson streets on September 17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie camera shop selling building, ballroom and pieces of history