One of the last remaining photo stores in the region is getting a new owner and a new name.
It’s the store on East Avenue, near Wegmans, that in recent years was called “Scott’s Photo by Rowe.” It is now called “Scott’s Rochester Photo Supply.”
Dick Rowe said that store was the last of the local photo operations he had owned, but now at the age of 76 and dealing with some health issues, he felt it was time to move on, so he sold the business recently to Tatiana Ariola. She said that her fiancé has worked at that store, and the two of them also have their own commercial production company.
Ariola noted that film, even with the dominance of digital photography, is not dead, at least not for a lot of younger people who are finding they like what they can do creatively with that medium.
“People… especially the younger generation who grew up (with) digital, they're really wanting that feeling of nostalgia,” said Ariola. “You take your pictures, you have to wait to see them. It creates some excitement around the images, and then they're already kind of a little bit more creative, a little bit more artsy.”
Rowe is glad that Ariola is taking over the photo shop.
“It was time for me to back away, find somebody that would have a passion for the business, which, in fact, Tatiana has and let her grow the business and continue the service to the community,” Rowe said.
He said it was also time to let a younger generation, more familiar with some of the newer technologies, as well as social media, take over the business and help it grow.
Even with her awareness of those technologies, Ariola said Scott’s Rochester Photo Supply will still provide the kinds of services it has offered in the past.
“We’re going to be keeping all of our services, including film processing, scanning, printing, video transfers, all that stuff,” said Ariola. “It's definitely a service that's needed, not only in our community, but everywhere.”
And as far as what’s next for Rowe, one thing he’d like to do in retirement is work on some of the photo archives that have been passed down from generations of his family who have been involved in photography since 1898.
“I have all that stuff, we go from glass plates to nitrate film to safety film to what currently is used in film production,” Rowe explained, and he said that he he may talk with officials at the George Eastman Museum about what to do with his archives.
