Camera store's success follows it to new home

Sunday, August 20, 2006 The owner fights the notion that specialty stores have higher prices. By DON SHILLING VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR BOARDMAN — Jim Yankush was plenty worried when he moved his camera store last May. Not only was he changing locations, but he was changing names — from Youngstown Microfilm to YM Camera. Would his customers find him? He shouldn't have worried. In June, sales were up 12 percent over the same month last year, and July sales soared 14 percent. The new location in South Bridge Executive Park on Boardman-Canfield Road is working because the windows, shiny floor and new display cases give customers a positive feel, Yankush said. "It's brighter and newer. And maybe it rejuvenated me a little it. It gets your energy up," he said. It replaces a store that was also on Boardman-Canfield Road. Yankush had opened that store in 1986 as a second location for the company, which had been operating in Youngstown. His father, Pete, started Youngstown Microfilm in 1951. He recorded hospital documents on microfilm but started carrying cameras for sale in the 1970s. The business started on Oak Street in Youngstown but later moved to Crescent Street. The elder Yankush retired a few years after the Boardman-Canfield Road store opened, and the Youngstown store closed in 1991. Jim Yankush has been using the name YM Camera for five years, but the sign on the store wasn't changed. With the move, it was time to completely drop the old name, which Yankush thinks can be confusing for customers who haven't shopped at the store before. He said the store down the street treated him well, but he wanted to move so he could own the property, rather than lease. He was able to buy the South Bridge location as an office condominium. Plus, it allowed him to be next to another successful specialty shop, Second Sole. "Many of our customers are the same," said Yankush, 45, of North Lima. Despite 20 years of successful retailing, however, Yankush said his biggest battle is fighting the notion that specialty shops always are more expensive than national chain stores. That's not the case with cameras, he said. Camera manufacturers set a minimum advertised price for products, and retailers can't advertise any price lower than that, he said. Last Christmas, the store's biggest seller was a camera that sold for $299. So many customers said they wanted to check the prices at the chain stores that Yankush printed out an online catalog from Wal-Mart that listed its price — $298. Draw of small stores At the same time, Yankush likes to play up the positive side to specialty shopping — customer service. "When customers come in, we have to ask questions. We think there's one camera we have in this store that's the right camera for you. The last thing you want to do is undersell or oversell someone," he said. Every camera in the store now is digital, but YM still makes both digital and film prints. Yankush said customers will make a special trip to drop off memory cards or film because of the custom work done in the store's lab. Some customers also edit their digital photos on a computer in the store before turning them in for prints. "We're practically leaning over the customer's shoulder sometimes to help. You won't get that at a drugstore," Yankush said. Yankush has one full-time employee working in the photo lab and four part-time sales workers who are Youngstown State University students. At one time, Yankush thought he had such a good business model that he opened other stores in Niles and Hermitage, Pa. In the end, however, he found that profits don't necessarily triple when two more stores are opened. He decided his Boardman shop had established itself as a destination store that people were willing to travel to, so he closed the other stores. "Plus, with just one store, I can talk to every customer. That's a big difference," he said. shilling@vindy.com