Photo Service to close after 89 years
Photo Service on Notre-Dame is going to close after 89 years in the business, the owner blaming bike paths and lack of parking for the decline in custom.
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Blork 19:07 on 2025-11-10 Permalink
Oh FFS. It’s a photography store and hardly anyone spends money on photography anymore. Think that might have something to do with it?
Still, it’s a sad announcement. They were my go-to store back when I used to spend money on photography. I still do, somewhat, but I confess I haven’t bought anything there in a few years. (About the only thing I spend money on these days is printer ink and photo paper, and they didn’t reliably carry the ink I need and buying paper was always a bit of a crapshoot in terms of what they had in stock. Online is way easier for those things.)
I think they made most of their money from renting stuff to pro photographers and providing pro services. Not much there for regular schmucks like me who doesn’t spend much.
Ian 19:38 on 2025-11-10 Permalink
i do like Photo Service, but bike paths?
I mean, parking I can kind of understand, it’s a specialized store, people come from all over, and they even do equipment rental as Blork points out so you would want truck or van access… but even so.
FWIW they have a ton of digital equipment and all the stuff you might need for pro shoots like lights and scrims and diffusers etc but yeah.
I will miss being able to rent really nice cameras I could never afford but admittedly it’s been over two years since I’ve even done that.
Blork 19:59 on 2025-11-10 Permalink
I wonder if Gosselin’s move to Ste-C and Bleury a few years ago contributed to PS’s decline. Same kind of outfit, easier to get to…
DeWolf 20:03 on 2025-11-10 Permalink
The little jab at bike paths and parking is pretty tiresome, given that there’s no bike path on Notre-Dame and many thousands of parking spaces within a very short walk.
Luckily the neon sign has heritage protection so it will stay put even after the business goes under. I’m not sure who would pay for maintenace, though, which means it might be at risk of going dark in the future.
Annette 03:00 on 2025-11-11 Permalink
I never forgave them for putting an unremovable, unnecessary ‘Photo Service’ sticker on an heirloom camera lens I brought them for repair. My punishment for bringing it by bicycle, I guess.
MarcG 10:40 on 2025-11-11 Permalink
Annette: I’ve found that pretty much any sticker residue can be removed with one product or another… although the process might be challenging if the thing it’s stuck to is sensitive or precious.
Ian 08:50 on 2025-11-12 Permalink
When my kids went through their sticker phase I found olive oil and q-tips to be the only generally effective way to get off the residue, then a very gentle soap will wash off the oil. With camera equipment I might be more inclined to use sewing machine oil but definitely gentle scrubbing with a cotton swab.
Joey 10:10 on 2025-11-12 Permalink
Baby oil often works, goo-gone too. This is really what, first, reddit and second, gen AI, was built for…