This iconic store has served the Treasure Valley for 74 years. In August, it will close
A Boise photography business that has served generations of Treasure Valley camera buffs has announced that it plans to permanently close in August.
Idaho Camera, operated by three generations of the Nagel family, said in an email to customers Wednesday that it plans to cease operating after 74 years.
“We have so many customer friends here and wonderful people engaged in photography,” said Dennis Nagel, the company’s co-president, in an interview. “I feel terrible for them.”
Nagel’s father, Bob Nagel, and two partners started the business in a small shop at 910 W. Main St. in 1946, just after World War II ended.
An early newspaper ad heralded, “Snapshot days are back — Get out the Kodaks again.”
Bob Nagel, who grew up in Chicago, was stationed at Gowen Field before World War II. He served as a bombardier instructor for the Army Air Corps. He took his hobby, photography, and turned it into a business, said Pat Nagel, who retired a couple of years ago but remains co-president with his brother.
“As a boy I remember going with dad when he did live TV commercials for KBOI,” Pat Nagel said.
Idaho Camera had long served both novice and advanced amateur photographers, Dennis Nagel said.
“We were here to take care of the person who wanted to learn about photography, one of the greatest hobbies in the world,” he said. “For 50 years, we taught classes to help people learn.”
The photography business has changed greatly over the years. At one time, Idaho Camera processed hundreds of rolls of film per day. “In by 10 a.m. out same day 5 p.m.,” a 1948 advertisement said.
Customers came to learn about different brands of cameras and chose the ones they felt best matched their needs. Later, some buyers came to get educated, then left to buy a camera through mail order or, later, over the internet from companies with lower overhead because they had no bricks-and-mortar business.
At one time, Idaho Camera operated five stores in Boise and Nampa. The company closed its store at Boise Towne Square mall in 2018. It was one of the mall’s original tenants in 1988.
That left the store at 1310 N. Orchard St. as the only remaining Idaho Camera shop.
Over the years, the industry focused on digital cameras, replacing film cameras with those that used cheaper memory cards that provided instant gratification, eliminating the need and expense of developing film and printing out photos.
Over time, many amateur photographers turned away from bulky single-lens cameras in favor of smaller point-and-shoot digital devices that could be carried easily or placed in a shirt pocket. Those cameras were available in mass-market electronics stores for a low price, leading many people to abandon cameras stores altogether.
Later, cameras found in cellphones and smartphones became so good that most people quit using regular cameras.
“I’ve read statistics that over the last 10 years, camera sales in the United States have dropped 85%,” Dennis Nagel said. “There used to be other camera stores in Boise, but they’re gone. Regionally, there are very few left.”
On Thursday, Idaho Camera began a liquidation sale. There’s no date set for the store to close, Dennis Nagel said. It will depend on how quickly the inventory gets depleted.
“Over the years, just about every member of our extended family has worked here, either in the summer or part time or full time,” he said. “It’s a real family concern, and it’s a family identity. And that’s the toughest part, closing it when it means so much to the family. It’s a tough deal.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 3:46 PM.
