There are two stories I hope you will all appreciate in our December issue.
First, we’re pleased to celebrate our 2022 DIR Dealer of the Year—Colonial Photo & Hobby. This business has such a rich and long history. It started when Don Rausch opened his first store way back in 1954. It continued with his sons Steve and Mike, who followed in their dad’s footsteps. And now, Steve’s son Jacob is bringing Colonial Photo & Hobby to a new generation of customers.
As you’ll see from the excellent story written by Bill McCurry, along with my Strategy Session, after nearly 70 years, the Rausch family is still having fun. We’re thrilled to have their store follow a long tradition of DIR Dealers of the Year. It’s an award we’ve presented to photo dealers for the past 30 years.
Moreover, we report that two of our favorite people, Stan and Shelly Grosz, decided to retire and sell the popular and successful Horn Photo—a recent DIR Dealer of the Year. However, they didn’t just walk away. Instead, these photo dealers turned their store over to 18 of their employees, who collectively own 10% of the business. What’s more, this will turn into 80% ownership over the next 15–20 years.
All I can say is leave it to Stan and Shelly to do the right thing by their employees. We wish you all the best in your retirement years. You both deserve it!
Our Product Roundups
In addition, the rest of our issue is a little bit of what we do best (and no one else does)—our product roundups. We give you a 360º view of product categories. You’ll see our roundup of Portrait Lenses, Camera Bags and, finally, Long-Zoom Bridge Cameras.
I highlight these stories because we are the only trade magazine in the photo–imaging industry. As such, we believe it is our responsibility to support our manufacturers and dealers with information that can help them sell products and make profits.
No one does it like Digital Imaging Reporter!
We hope you are enjoying a successful holiday season. We wish you all the best for a healthy and happy new year.
