Ava Kamm was a regular client at Peoria Camera Shop, so naturally she was sad when it was announced they were closing. Peoria Camera Shop is Peoria’s last full-service camera store.
She went to the clearance sale and bought just a little more than she expected to buy. She bought the entire store after some of the people working there half-jokingly suggested that she purchase the store to keep it alive.
Ava is a professional photographer and among her photographic specialties are real estate photos, portraits and she’s best known for taking photos of dogs and you can check that out on her website, Dog Anthology.
I thought it only fitting to revive our “Let Them Eat Cake” series by taking a celebratory cake from Trefzger’s Bakery to Ava and her crew at Peoria Camera Shop, so let’s start this sweet expedition!
Here we are at Trefzger’s Bakery.
This series, was brought to a halt in that rotten year of 2020 when Covid happened because nothing was open and when things did re-open, I didn’t think people would be comfortable with me walking in to their business with a cake for a group of people to share.
Well, while Covid is still here, it feels like it’s time to bring back this sweet, Let Them Eat Cake series and so let’s head into Trefzger’s to get this episode’s cake!
My friend Kayla Bennett is the official MBIP Cake Artist at Trefzger’s, but she wasn’t working when I came to pick up the cake, so Jill posed with the cake that Kayla designed and baked.
It’s wonderful work as always, I love the camera, the film in the corners and the lights popping on the cake! It’s a beautiful work of art!
Through the magic of Photoshop, here’s Kayla posing with her sweet masterpiece for Peoria Camera Shop!
Thanks for your fabulous work, Kayla, hope to see you on the next trip!
Now it’s time to deliver the cake!
Here we are at Peoria Camera Shop, one of Peoria’s oldest and beloved businesses!
They started out in 1937 on Main Street and moved to the Metro Centre in 1990.
And now, thanks to Ava Kamm, this legendary Peoria retail store will live on!
This is the last living full-service camera shop in Peoria, so hopefully everyone will make an effort to support it and keep this business thriving.
Let’s go in and take a look around.
What a nice and spacious store.
The front showroom looks fantastic and off to the side is the Camera Showroom complete with cameras, lenses and various photographic supplies and tools of the trade.
As I walked up to the front of the store I saw the new owner, Ava Kamm! It was great to see her and catch up on things and she said that she’s really excited to start this new chapter in her life.
She said that people have been very supportive and happy that she’s giving the store a new lifeline.
Ava said I was free to take some photos and so let’s go snap a few of Peoria Camera Shop, a vintage Peoria store that has been brought back to life!
This is Sunny, who’s the Social Media Manager and Executive Director of naps.
There’s framed photos featuring some of Ava’s canine photography, photo books and magazines and a sign about printing photos.
This explains and shows that the printing process is done right here in the shop and it’s a personal process as opposed to Walgreen’s, CVS and other retail places that just ship your photos off and it’s not a personal experience at all.
There’s computers here to download your photos and Ava and her staff will work with you to get the best personal prints and quality posters ever.
Take the photos out of your phone and get quality photos that can be saved in a photo album. And you can support this local business by doing so, so everyone wins!
Here’s the production room where all the photo magic happens.
Peoria Camera Shop can print your digital files, they can take your home movies, old VHS tapes and slides and save them to DVD’s or turn them into digital files that you can post on YouTube and other social platforms.
And as you can see from that last photo, they also develop and print from film! They are the only photo shop in Peoria and beyond to offer this service!
Wow, check out this ad from way back in the day when they had their grand opening on Main Street!
I love that there were free gifts for the Gentlemen and free flowers for the Ladies!
Speaking of Grand Opening’s, Peoria Camera Shop is going to be having their official Grand Opening soon and you can come in and sign up to win this vintage metal print of the Peoria Skyline!
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And now…ladies and gentlemen, after over a two year break, it’s time to…
I brought in the cake that Kayla designed and baked and everyone loved it!
Here’s Ava and Allie posing with it!
There’s the entire Peoria Camera crew in the top photo.
From left: Travis Carlson, the Print Shop Guru; Allie Mahler who heads up Marketing Design; owner Ava Kamm and Ted Ray who is the resident Camera Expert.
We cut the cake and now it’s time for a sweet treat!
Congratulations and thanks to Ava and her crew for keeping this legendary Peoria business alive. Hopefully the town will appreciate it and help support the shop!
After the cake, Sunny was thinking, “Will you please stop bothering me, it’s time for a nap!”
So I got ready to head on out! Thanks to Ava and her crew for a fun afternoon at Peoria Camera Shop.
Ava and her crew have a lot of plans for this newly revived shop.
In addition to having everything you need for photography and being able to output quality prints and posters, there’s also going to be classes and workshops and other cool and fun events happening here at Peoria Camera Shop.
Follow their facecrack page and their website for updates. Support this local business that’s been thriving since 1937!
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4700 N. University St. #64 (In the Metro Centre)
Peoria
309-693-9191
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