Redstone camera to close shutters
Published on February 26th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Judging by the gaps in the counter spaces and the semi-naked shelves that line the merchandise floor of Redstone Camera on Main street, business should be great. A steady flow of customers cross the business?s threshold, most immediately moving to speak in whispers with one of the two owners. The phone constantly jumps from its receiver with a blaring ring, an employee announcing that yet another loyal customer will soon stop by.
But despite these indicators of a booming business, some signs speak to another reality ? the sometimes grim expressions of the owners and employees, overheard offers of condolences, and the exiting farewells of customers. The most dooming evidence of all hangs from the store?s glass entryway, a square posterboard that reads, "Thanks for a great 27 years."
After staying in business for nearly three decades, brothers Jay and Scott Feingold closed Redstone Camera?s doors for good this past Monday. According to the owners, a combination of factors led to the store?s closing.
"I kind of saw this coming a couple years ago. We weathered the storm for the last 27-years but this time it was just too much with the economy and digital photography," said Scott Feingold.
The two brothers inherited the camera store twenty-six years ago after their father, who had bought the business in 1976, died unexpectedly at the age of 48. Then two youths in their early twenties, the Feingolds built a business with a priority focus on customer service. They later sought to expand their business base by opening a one-hour photo developing center, a savvy business move that met large success until the digital camera hit the shelves.
According to the business duo, their customer service focus deemed so successful, the brothers found themselves constantly surrounded by loyal patrons.
"It was almost like a local tavern here," said a somber Scott Feingold. "Our customers would always come in to talk and share their photos with us?I watched a lot of families grow up. This store was just our whole life."
For the past week, dozens of the Feingold?s friends and customers stopped by to say their good-byes to the people and employees who had become like a second family. Many others sent cards and other departing gifts, one regular patron sending two vintage bottles of wine.
"I just kind of stumbled on this place by accident not long ago and now its gone," said Rick Krepps, a Wakefield resident who regularly stopped by the camera shop. "It?s just a shame?I just like to see shops that pay attention to their customers continue to exist."
In addition to the Feingold brothers, two other employees, night shift worker Renzel Rongone and store manager Mike Ascolillo will also find themselves unemployed.
"I guess I have to find a job where I have to be nice," joked Rongone, whose silver streaked hair and straight-forward demeanor reminds one of a grandmotherly figure. "Here I treated customers like my family so you could talk straight with them and tell them what they were doing wrong," added the 30-year employee of the camera business.
Rongone, who started working at the camera shop before the Feingold family purchased it in the seventies, never expected the store to go out of business, despite knowing of the challenges digital cameras created.
"We could see it coming but it?s just one of those places you always thought would be there. But now it isn?t?In my humble opinion, they?ll be a whole generation of children without photo albums because all their photos will be stuck in their computers," said Rongone with a stately grin.
Redstone Camera?s other employee, Mike Ascolillo, worked eleven years for the store, eight of them as the store?s manager. Plagued by illnesses throughout the years, Ascolillo said he owed much to the Feingold brothers.
"The owners kept me working when other employees would have let me go because of sickness and surgeries. Any other small retail store would have shown me the door," said Ascolillo, who plans to start a home based photography service.
Greeting his patrons hours before closing the family camera shop he inherited when he was 22-years old, Scott Feingold expressed gratitude for his customers over the years.
"We feel like we?re from Stoneham even though we?re originally from the South Shore. We grew up with our customers?We?ll miss them all", said Feingold who plans to spend some time with his family.
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