The memory business: Ernest Camera Shoppe to close end of September
After 40 years of helping customers see their memories come to life, Ernest Camera Shoppe will be closing its doors.
Owner Terry Ernest said when he first bought his business in 1984, he thought he was in the camera business. However, he quickly realized he was actually in the memory business. He said photos bring people back to the moment now frozen in time. Ernest Camera Shoppe sold cameras, camera accessories and provided services such as photography classes, photo restoration and more.
Ernest was approached by Moses Roses, a marijuana dispensary business, to sell his building. After initially saying no, Ernest said he realized it could be an opportunity to fade into retirement.
"I'm going to retire from the camera store, but I'm going to continue to provide photo services because there's so many customers that still need stuff done and I want to help them," he said.
Ernest Camera Shoppe is located at 1600 Pine Grove Ave. and will officially close on Sept. 29. Until then, Ernest Camera Shoppe is having a storewide sale with most items being marked as 25% off.
Once the building closes, Ernest will continue to provide photography services remotely through Hanson Pro Music, located at 707 Beard St. His business will now be known as Ernest Photo Service.
Starting Oct. 1, customers will be able to engage in drop off and pick up services at Hanson Pro Music. Available services include photo prints from digital or film, transferring reel movies to digital formats, transferring VCR tapes to digital formats, restoring photos, canvas wrapping, photo enlargements and digitizing photo prints, negatives or slides.
Hanson Pro Music's hours are Tuesday through Friday noon to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
Ernest went to school to get a degree in business and used photography as a hobby. He said it became an artistic outlet for him. He started working for D & I Camera and found he really enjoyed working with customers.
He purchased D & I Camera in 1984 and from there Ernest Camera Shoppe was born.
Ernest said there are probably a million memorable moments out of the 40 years he's been in business. He said it always felt good to help customers with whatever they needed. He said one thing he always thought was cool were the restoration services provided by his wife, Rita Ernest. He said she would be at her full-time job five days a week and then come in on Saturdays to restore photos.
On top of all the services the business provided, Ernest was also a commercial photographer and has photographed thousands of weddings, portraits and other commercial shoots.
Ernest said having an end date is both exciting and scary. He said he believes he's had a good career.
"It always felt like I was doing something good," Ernest said. "We were helping people preserve their past, their memories."
Ernest said he was lucky to have such great customers over the years. He said everyone was always appreciative and sometimes he would receive thank you letters. He said his business was one of the few where customers crying was a good thing, because it actually meant they were happy with whatever has been preserved.
Contact McKenna Golat at mgolat@gannett.com or (810) 292-0122.
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This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Ernest Camera Shoppe closing
