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Frank Murphy and Jim Quinn (MQ) opened the doors to the first MQ Camera Center on July 1, 1961 and were partners for 34 years until Frank’s retirement in 1995 at which time Jim assumed sole ownership. Their first store was at 321 South Warren St, in the heart of downtown Syracuse. Over the years additional locations were added on Marshall St, on the Syracuse University hill and the present location on Hawley Avenue.
Jim notes that almost his whole life has been dedicated to photography since, at the age of 14, as a high school student, he went to work for a local camera store.
We’ve witnessed the dramatic changes in photography generally and in the local market over these 50 years. Though our customers still include the top photographers in our area, we’ve seen our market change from being primarily professional/commercial photographers to a customer base that is mostly the general consumer.
We’ve stayed involved in the market as it shifted from 4 x 5 format transparencies, to 35 mm color, to high resolution digital. Our staff has seen big names like Kodak and Poloroid virtually disappear from the marketplace and stayed tuned-in to the needs of our customers as slide projectors and projection screens were replaced by digital projectors and HD TV.
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