A Visit from B&H Photo

A nice thing—my rep from B&H Photo, Izzy Flamm, actually made a trip out from NYC to see me yesterday. I've always had good contacts at B&H—Itzhak (Isaac) Buchinger, then Menashe Wodinsky, and lately Izzy. Izzy lives in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, which Wikipedia calls "a hub of Orthodox Judaism." More than half of Lakewood's ~100,000 residents are Orthodox. Izzy commutes two hours to New York City each way. He rather liked my commute, which consists of a) coming downstairs and b) moseying out to the porch.

We had a great visit, and we are cooking up a number of ideas for ways of working together. I'll keep you posted going forward.

I think Izzy enjoyed his brief trip to our area. (My town has 5,000 people, and they're building a new building across from the B&H Superstore in Midtown that will house more people than that.) All the same, it was very kind of him to come all this way to meet me. Thanks Izzy.

Mike

P.S. I have one more post for today, a "Random Excellence," but I'm awaiting permission to post the picture. My hopes are fading at this point, but who knows, maybe I'll get lucky before the end of the day.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Tex Andrews: "You know, I'm not that surprised. There was a time when B&H rocked that gruff-to-the-point-of-rude NYC thing, but in my dealings with them for the past decade they have been unfailingly polite, helpful, dare I say it, even gentle, in their dealings with me. Henry Posner has done a great outreach job over at that infamous site (in the midst of a family tragedy a year or so back, at that...). I feel like B&H has decided to be...good. I liked that they seem to have expanded their religious holidays as well, in a way that makes me think that take their faith seriously, as opposed to what I'm seeing from some others. I was sad to hear about their labor issues out in Brooklyn because it seemed so out of character with what I have been experiencing."

Mike replies: B&H's warehouses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as well as the one in Bushwick have been closed, and fulfillment has moved to a newer, larger facility in Florence Township, New Jersey, just south of Trenton. From what the news reported, all the warehouse workers from the Brooklyn facilities were offered jobs at the new facility. The old Navy Yard warehouse, with no further connection to B&H that I'm aware of, is reportedly being converted to movie and television studios.

By the way, in case you're curious, "B&H" stands for "Blimie and Herman," the first names of the man who owns B&H Photo, Herman Schreiber, and his wife. Herman (Izzy used a nickname that sounded like "Heshy" but I don't know if that's the correct spelling) is still living and still comes in to work.

Chip McDaniel: "I've been dealing with B&H for over 30 years now by phone and Internet and in both the old 17th Street store and the new one. Even when they were doing 'gruff-to-the-point-of-rude NYC thing' that Tex Andrews refers to above, they were always fair and transparent about which were USA goods and which were gray market. I once had a shipment of an expensive lens go missing, and they shipped another the day of my phone call, even though the courier service showed delivery of the package to my home. In my experience this is typical of B&H and actually of 'gruff' New Yorkers in general, who, when asked for directions or other help, go out of their way to be helpful. Also, B&H's prices were always great, and they still are. I'm glad that you are a click through for them and wish you a fruitful future collaboration."

Mike replies: My favorite gruff-to-the-point-of-rude NYC story: I was walking from Columbia University to Penn Station with a suitcase once (not realizing quite how far it was), and about ten blocks north of Penn Station on 7th Avenue, after walking for quite a long time, I saw two policemen standing on the sidewalk casually talking to each other. I approached them and said, "Excuse me, officers, can you tell me where Penn Station is?" Both cops abruptly fell silent and looked me up and down from head to toe, as if they were completely affronted that I had dared to interrupt their conversation. Finally one of them cocked his head to the south and said, in a thick New York accent and a scathing tone of voice, "It's right down the f---ing street!" He then turned his back on me and they resumed talking. I had to try hard not to laugh.

Comments

[rube]

Gotta love a New Yorker wearing a Cubs cap!

[Jack]

I love B&H and their website is easier to order from than Amazon. They are always my first choice when ordering via TOP. Of course for the moment I appreciate zero sales tax.

[Marvin Van Drunen]

I really like Izzy's hat!

[Eolake]

That’s really nice. I hope the cooperation will be successful for both.

[Eric Peterson]

I’m a B&H fan with one caveat: please please use your bully pulpit to get them to use some corner protectors when shipping 17x22 Canson paper. Canson partly to blame for such a lame box in packaging, but they just do not ship well with just those little green air pillows. Returned enough, complained enough, documented all enough but they just don’t seem to get what is required to safely protect a box of pricey paper.

OK with me if you just pass along a note, no public shaming required.

[Doug Thacker]

I like that it has a pop-up flash. Could come in handy.

[Robert Roaldi]

How anyone can be pleasant to clients after commuting for 2 hours is beyond me. My hat's off to him.

[Carsten Bockermann]

>>I've always had good contacts at B&H...<<

I would think Henry Posner, who always was very helpful on the old CompuServe Photoforum (and still is today, albeit in other places on the Internet) is missing from your list.

[Michael Eckstein]

I'm glad you posted this article on B&H. I've shopped with them since they opened. First in person and now via the internet. Your article jarred my memory that I wanted to bookmark your link to B&H and have neglected to do so. The enjoyment your blog brings makes it a priority read. I'm a little sorry when you take a few days off and am eager to read your latest update when you return!

[scott kirkpatrick]

Interesting trends you are picking up on. Lakewood is even further south in NJ than Trenton, and Trenton is practically in Philadelphia. So B&H's new logistics center is down where the new 50,000 person center of Orthodox Judaism has formed, and no longer over in Brooklyn. And the Brooklyn Navy Yard, like the Presidio in San Francisco, will now be movie studios. When I lived in Westchester Cty, the center of Orthodox life was moving to Rockland County, west of the river (Lee Friedlander country), but I guess it all filled up. But that would have been four hours closer to Penn Yan than where Izzy had to start out from. I hope he at least stayed the night in your area.

[He did, at a Bed and Breakfast, but not the one owned by my friends Laurel and Llew. He needed to book through Expedia, and apparently they're not affiliated with Expedia. --Mike]

[Steve Rosenblum]

Here is my favorite B&H story. I think I may have posted it here maybe 10 years ago, but it's still a great story.....I called a number of years ago to order some photo gear. The fellow who answered the phone had the clipped, somewhat brusque speech pattern that is common among New York's Hassidic Jews. When he asked me for my shipping information and I told him my name, he said, 'Rosenblum! Rosenblum! Are you related to the famous Rabbi Rosenblum?' I thought for a moment and said, 'If I am, do I get a discount?' After perhaps a 10-nanosecond pause he said, 'NO!' followed by a chuckle.

I think we both got a chuckle out of that one.

[Henry Posner]

Thanks to all for your kind words and reflections about B&H Photo, my colleague Izzy, and about me. It is all very flattering and much appreciated. -- Henry Posner / B&H Photo-Video

[gregory brophy]

Ha this is funny, Izzy and Henry both sit a few aisles away from me.

A few quick notes, I have meet the owner an he is very nice. I was in a big meeting with lots of people and my boss introduced me. You would never know by meeting him that he is the owner, he is very humble.

Yes, B&H left is leaving the Navy Yard but thats because the lease ended. That area is prime real estate and it's hard to find warehouses in NYC anymore. I believe Amazon is in Secaucus NJ.

As for New Yorkers being rude, that is only if you don't follow the rules of the city. For instance not stopping to check your phone at the top of the subway steps. Walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk. Taking more than 2 minutes to order a black coffee. Not having your money ready when you have been in line for 20 minutes. We know who the tourists are and who lives here. The standard rule is not to stop for anyone trying to talk to me, but if you're a tourist and ask us a question we will spend an hour trying to help. If you are from here NYC, well fuhgeddaboudit.