PORT ANGELES — When a business closes, it leaves more than a vacant storefront behind. It puts employees out of work and provides a direct financial hit to the other businesses that rely upon it.
But it can also provide an opportunity for those most affected to allow their own financial seeds to sprout.
The closure of The Camera Corner in Port Angeles last month is a prime example.
The landmark business, which was at First and Lincoln streets for 47 years, contracted one person and employed two others for photo printing, restoration and transferring film and videos to DVD.
The two employees each had their own photography-related businesses on the side, and with the help of some of the equipment sold to them by owner Richard Ziegler — who closed the business to retire — they are either turning that into their full-time gig, or, as the case with Jeanne Pumphrey, starting up a brand-new business.
Pixel Perfect
Pumphrey, who restored photographs at The Camera Corner for seven years, will open the doors to Pixel Perfect Imaging in Joyce today.
In the 400-square-foot office, Pumphrey said she will offer photo restoration, DVD and CD productions, portrait photos, passport photos and poster printing.
Previously, she handled extra work from The Camera Corner under the business name Saved by Jeanne at her home in Joyce.
She said she decided to open the business last month after she was told that The Camera Corner was closing.
Equipped with a poster printer, professional scanner and computer that she bought from Ziegler, Pumphrey hopes to continue the workload she did at The Camera Corner.
“I was seeing demand too high to work out of my home,” she said.
“I’m already pretty filled up for January. I’ve not even started yet.”
Pumphrey said some of that demand is spill-over from the last month The Camera Corner was open.
The store was kept busy by customers trying to get their photo work done before closing day.
“It was crazy,” she said.
“People were clamoring to get it done before we closed. It wasn’t going to happen” for everyone.
One of the things Pumphrey said she wants to focus on is restoring old photographs and saving them to a digital format, which can be accompanied with music and act as digital slide show.
She referred to that as “preserving memories.”
Pixel Perfect Imaging is at 50893 state Highway 112 in the former Clallam Broadband office.
For those who can’t make the trip to Joyce, a drop-off box will be located at Veela Cafe, next to the former location of The Camera Corner on First Street.
Pumphrey and her husband, Ernie Dalgardno, also own the dump truck company E and J Services.
Expanding businesses
While they are not opening new storefronts, Will Parsinen and Jason Kauffman are adjusting their work lives after the closure of The Camera Corner.
Kauffman, who worked at the store’s printing lab, has turned his job as owner of Sterling Impressions photo studio on First Street into a full-time gig.
And Parsinen, who contracted with Ziegler for transferring film and videos into DVDs, is searching for new customers for his business, Infinite Image, which he runs out of his home on O Street.
Kauffman opened Sterling Impressions just over a year ago and said his job at The Camera Corner helped supplement his income while he got his business off the ground.
The switch came a little sooner than he was hoping for.
“The Camera Corner was kind of my food money,” he said.
“It [the closure] kind of hit me a bit.”
With the additional time to focus on his own business, Kauffman said he began opening his store on Saturdays this last week.
He has also bought Ziegler’s equipment for printing passport photos, which is a service he now offers at Sterling Impressions.
Kauffman said he worked at The Camera Corner for about five years.
Parsinen, who also contracts video transfer work with Frick Drug in Sequim, said The Camera Corner brought in more than half of his customers.
“It was a nice thing alongside with The Camera Corner,” he said.
“It really brought in a lot of business.”
Parsinen referred to his work as preserving “family treasures,” which he said is in pretty high demand since video and film are obsolete.
“Now everything is changed to DVD. We don’t have VHS recorders anymore, especially 8mm film,” he said.
“People have rolls and rolls of it in their closets.”
Parsinen said he contracted work with Ziegler for about four years.
Sterling Impressions is at 103 W. First Street, and Kauffman can be contacted at 360-417-3001.
Parsinen can be contacted at 360-457-8922.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
