Unfortunately, America doesn’t have a lot of great camera stores left.  The boom of big box electronic stores during the 90’s killed off many “mom and pops“ as well as small chain camera stores.  Then the growth of Amazon in the 2000’s killed off the big box electronic stores like Circuit City (remember them?).   So outside of being in B&H when I visit New York City, large scale camera stores are hard to come by.  But I was recently in Indianapolis and made sure I took time to visit Roberts camera.

Roberts  camera is a long-standing local camera store with a solid reputation in the Midwest which offers new gear, used gear, trade-ins, accessories, and services (repair facilitation, sensor cleaning).  Because it’s in a midwestern metro with fewer big chain stores, it’s a real “regional anchor” for photographers in and around Indiana.  They also do an impressive amount of business on eBay – If you’ve ever searched for a preowned or a vintage camera or lens on eBay, you’ve likely run across “UsedPhotoPro” which is the name of Roberts Camera’s eBay store.

Roberts Camera is located in the heart of downtown Indianapolis in a large brick building, which looks like it could’ve been built in the 1950s or 60s.  But once you go inside, their main showroom floor is both modern looking and impressive.

I was immediately both shocked and impressed by the breath and depth of camera brands they carry:

Just a few of the brands carried in the store.

Before visiting the store, I really only knew them as a vintage and preowned camera seller.  I had no idea they actually were an authorized Leica dealer.

They also have a section of the store dedicated to preowned and vintage gear, which was fun to visit:

I could’ve wandered around for hours and instantly regretted not carving out more time to do so, but I drove into Indianapolis later in the day and they were already near closing time in the store.  I snagged a couple of rolls of Kodak Porta 400 (which was cheaper than Amazon).

I’m typically in Indianapolis once or twice a year for events, so I’m definitely going to make sure that I set aside more time to visit the store when next time I’m in town.  I’m also going to make a better effort to focus my photography gear spend toward Roberts Camera.  I think they are a Midwest institution worth protecting.