University Camera, Iowa City's last full-service photography shop, to shutter this spring

By spring, Roger Christian hopes to close the camera store he and his wife bought in 1984 — a move he's been planning for 10 years.

"When I quit, I want it to be — 'click' — walk away from it and we're done," he said, just like a quick camera shutter.

Once University Camera closes, though, so too will the last full-service photo processing and camera shop in Johnson County, and the community will lose decades of technical experience and service. In January, the store's remaining photo processing machine was decommissioned.

Over the years, Christian said while sitting in the back office of his home away from home, it's become more and more difficult to compete with online retailers and to attract foot traffic to the downtown Iowa City shop at 4 S. Dubuque St.

"The entire retail landscape over the entire United States is changing, and Iowa City is not any more immune to it — in fact, (it) may be more subject to it than the average town," he said. "It's the convenience of shopping online, and that younger generations of people are so accustomed to shopping online. Places like B&H Photo have the ability to ship to you in two days at no extra charge. I don't begrudge anybody any of this, though."

The sales numbers from this past October led Christian to make the final decision to close.

"Black Friday was a non-event for us. In October, I looked at the books and we did one-third of the business we need to stay afloat," he said. "That's when I turned to my wife, (Chris Christian), and said, 'It's time.' "

A history in snapshots

According to a history of the store compiled by Christian, University Camera is only the second tenant of the building, built sometime around 1895, he said. Fryauf's Leather Goods, a horse tack shop, originally occupied the building, and eventually grew into a luggage and leather goods shop. University Camera opened in May 1970, after the owners of Fryauf's retired, he said.

The camera store originally was opened by Memory Shops Inc., which had two stores in the Rock Island, Illinois, area, and was managed locally by Bob Plumb.

Before University Camera's opening, Christian was working his way through college at the University of Iowa. Originally studying physics and astronomy, Christian transitioned to radio, TV and film and worked for a while at the KWAD radio station, now KRUI-FM. He graduated in 1968 and took a job at Times Photo, housed at the back of a building near where Fin and Feather now sits, along Highway 1.

That December, Christian was drafted and spent three years in the U.S. Army, stationed in Oahu, Hawaii.

In 1971, he came back and landed a job a West Music that lasted one day before he was brought on as University Camera's assistant manager. Three years later, Christian left to manage the KRNA radio station, where he remained until 1980, when he returned to University Camera and bought the outfit with his wife in 1984.

At that time, the store sold basic photography accessories, and film and darkroom supplies, Christian said — simpler things like those he used in high school when he'd take photos for science projects in his Foley, Alabama, backyard through a telescope his father bought for him.

In 1989, though, University Camera bought its first photo processing machine, introducing color film and black-and-white processing and printing. Eventually, the store also added color slide processing and enlarging services, followed by the switch to digital processing as digital cameras became more popular.

With the number of services the store added, combined with the quality of the prints University Camera was able to produce, the store outlasted much of its local competition.

"When we added all that, everything just kind of clicked — figuratively and literally — and it kind of took off," Christian said. "We took off like a shot in ’84 and nearly doubled in three years."

A brush with financial ruin

While the store was growing rapidly, financial difficulty was brewing and, in 1996, the store came so close to crashing that it took 10 years for Christian to right the ship.

On a Sunday that year, Christian woke up around 5 a.m. and told his wife something didn't feel right and that he needed to go to the shop to check in.

He plugged information from a large pile of invoices stacked in the back offices into a database to better visualize and understand the business' finances.

The picture that emerged on Christian's computer screen showed that, due to the incompetency of a business manager, University Camera was about $200,000 in debt.

"The stack of invoices totaled about $200,000 worth of unpaid debt, and we had receivables of about $110,000," Christian said. "He hadn't billed out to get the money people owed us, and he hadn't paid the people we bought stuff from, and that whole thing came to roost."

When the IRS and sales tax representatives showed up to investigate, Christian said the business manager took off in the middle of the night and, at one point, an accountant Christian worked with advised him to lock the doors and let University Camera crash.

"I said we couldn't do that. It wasn't easy, and it took us about 10 years to get the job done, but with a lot of help from our family, we were able to do it," he said.

That was "an exciting Sunday," he said with a laugh, now that he's able to.

After University Camera shutters

Right now, Christian said, his primary goal is to try to sell off the $100,000 to $125,000 worth of equipment the store has in stock.

One of the things he'll miss most when the store closes will be his membership in national and international photography organizations. He has been a part of the Photo Marketing Association International, where he has served on committees and its board.

Christian and his store also have been a part of Independent Photo Imagers and the Photographic Research Organization, both of which he credits for the growth and success of University Camera and the industry as a whole.

If all goes as planned, Christian said the store will close in mid-April or early May, and then he and his wife will travel to Oahu, where he was stationed, with their friends. Next up: a trip to San Francisco to visit their daughters.

"I'll probably explore some hobbies I haven't been able to because I've spent so much time here, and we'll travel some more — I'll have the time now," he said.

Christian said he'll also miss his employees, which over the years have been as many as 12 full- and part-time workers and now number just six or seven.

"We've always had people that could really do the job well, and they really made this place what it was and what it is," he said.

Once University Camera is closed, Christian said the only stores like his left in the state will be in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Davenport and Des Moines.

"It's tough, but I know it's time," he said.

Reach Andy Davis at 319-887-5404 or at aldavis@press-citizen.com, and follow him on Twitter as @BylineAndyDavis.