A brick-and-mortar photo shop in 2025? SLO store has defied the odds for 30 years
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- The Photo Shop in San Luis Obispo marks 30 years as a traditional film store.
- Owner Peggy Mesler's hands-on service and trust have been drivers of longevity.
- The store thrives by offering photo restoration, film processing, repairs and much more.
Longtime freelance photographer Peggy Mesler opened her new traditional film camera business in downtown San Luis Obispo On July 15, 1995.
Some at the time said The Photo Shop was bucking the industry trends toward shopping online and in big-box stores. The digital photography revolution was already lurking on the horizon.
Three decades later, defying the odds, Mesler’s store is still going strong.
Her shop at at 1027 Marsh St. — right next to the Royal Car Wash — is the rare brick-and-mortar camera store to survive the tsunami of online retail, not to mention the proliferation of cell phone cameras.
How unique is The Photo Shop?
Mesler said she believes that it “is the only camera store from Monterey to Bakersfield to Ventura.”
The camera store trend had begun to decline when she opened
The Photo Shop opened when similar stores were closing up shop or teetering on the brink.
Six weeks before Mesler opened her doors, her former boss for 18 years, Bill Hinote, sold his longtime Cal Photo store.
Mesler wasn’t the only optimist then, however: Photography 101, opened about six years after The Photo Shop did.
“There were four camera stores in downtown San Luis then,” Mesler recalled.
One by one, all the others closed.
The shop that took over from Cal Photo closed a couple of years after it opened, she said.
Among the others, “Photography 101 closed first,” Mesler said, while Jim’s Campus Camera “stayed in business for a couple more years.”
Jim’s Campus Camera closing after 42 years
“We’d had a friendly relationship … allies competing with the internet and online businesses,” she said of Jim’s. “If I didn’t have something in stock, I’d send the customer over there.”
Meanwhile down south, some photography industry icons held on longer.
Brook’s Institute in Santa Barbara eventually closed in 2016 and the legendary Samy’s Camera there held out until 2019.
The Photo Shop keeps going.
Why has The Photo Shop survived when many others didn’t?
Mesler’s dream business apparently has been buoyed and sustained through those years by her diversified merchandising, savvy promotion, special events and by offering a wide variety of services that customers still want — and are even beginning to seek out more and more, she said.
It helps that those services can be provided up close and personal.
There’s something reassuring about handing cherished but severely damaged legacy photographs directly to Mesler or one of her longtime employees for skilled restoration, rather than trusting the images to the fickle fates of mail or digital transfer.
At The Photo Shop, customers can even see examples of previous photo restoration successes, easily relating them to their own photos that need some TLC.
The Photo Shop also offers a wide variety of products and services.
“We sell film, film processing, new and used film cameras, digital cameras and all sorts of camera accessories,” Mesler said. “We do a lot of in-house printing, photo restoration and editing for our customers.”
They also have repair services and provide passport photos.
The Photo Shop even curates photo exhibits elsewhere and mounts its own shows in house.
And a crucial advantage?
Mesler is a hands-on owner. If the shop is open, she’s probably there.
At her store, the magic word has always been service, taking care of each customer as an individual, not an order number.
If a customer buys a camera or other product elsewhere, but can’t figure out how to use it, Mesler and her staff are happy to help them through the maze to understand and use their purchase.
“The Photo Shop has always had service as our first priority,” Mesler said. “I do believe that I have the best clientele and staff.”
She has only three employees: Trevor Gates, Max Friedlaender and Hayden Ganyo.
All of them, Mesler says, fully embrace her friendly, helpful philosophy of sharing their knowledge with the customers.
SLO camera shop owner says she’s ‘doing what I love to do’
Mesler was born and raised in San Luis Obispo.
“I’m a proud graduate of Cal Poly’s photojournalism department,” Mesler said.
She got her photojournalism degree in 1978, the same year she launched her freelance photography business.
Those were the days when the mantra for success for many photographers was “f/8 and be there,” with a bulky camera bag filled with film, variable focal length, changeable lenses, several camera bodies and other equipment.
Since then, Mesler has embraced the industry’s changes while keeping and respecting the classics.
As most artists do, she has still her favorite topics.
“I’ve always loved photographing people. Portraits are my favorites,” she said of her passion for the humanity illustrated in photographs by such artists as Dorthea Lange. “I’m fortunate to live and work in this beautiful area, doing what I love to do.”
For more information
The Photo Shop is open six days a week (closed Sundays) from 10 am to 5 p.m.
For further information, call 805-543-4025 or log onto the store’s website.
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
