A photo store and so much more

It's all about tradition and adaptation.

"We're such a chameleon of a business. We are what we need to be," said Jennie Wilson, the newest family member to join the firm.

Elliott Photo in Marysville opened on Oct. 1, 1971, but it wasn't the first photography business to occupy the site at 412 D. St.

Gary Elliott, family patriarch and founder of Elliott Photo, said that since 1906 there's been a photographic-type business at that address. "Marjorie and I are the fourth owners of the business," he said.

Gary's mind was always set on running his own photography business.

"I'd been in the photo business since 1955 when I had a part-time job at Pardee's Cameras in Sacramento. I just loved the business," he recalled. "Marjorie and I got married in 1958. I knew I liked the business and she liked having babies, but we knew we wanted our own camera shop. After I'd been at Pardee's for 10 or 12 years, I started looking around for a store. I wanted to buy Pardee's, but it was too much and Marjorie didn't want to raise kids there. When this place came on the market — it was called Albrecht Photo then — we bought it."

The choice was easy for them, Gary said. "This was the first one we found that we could afford."

They could afford it — with a little help. "Marjorie's mom and dad loaned us some money. My mom and dad loaned us some money. Marjorie and I had some money. So, between all of us, we were able to pull it together and purchase it," he recounted.

One thing that Gary is proud of is the store's continuing profitability, which started as soon as they opened. "Right from Day 1, with Marjorie and I working — we didn't have any employees then — we started making money," he said.

In the 1970s and earlier, a photography business could be successful just selling cameras and other photographic equipment and supplies, but the world was about to change — and Gary knew the business had to adapt to survive.

The changes started with the addition of the first overnight color processing lab in Northern California.

This was followed by photograph framing in 1983. "Marjorie had always wanted us to get into framing. That was a perfect sideline to selling cameras and making good prints. That way, we can make the prints, then matte and frame them," Gary said. "This was also very successful, right from the start."

Next to come along were passport photos in 1984 and scrapbooking in 1996. "Marjorie and I were at a trade show in Seattle. She saw some scrapbooking demonstrations where women tell stories with their pictures. I was against it. I thought it was a dumb idea," Gary admitted.

"Gary only allowed me 10 feet of floor space up front in the camera shop," Marjorie said. "I had two gondolas to put the scrapbooking supplies on. He only allowed it because the darkroom section was being used less and less. This filled in that gap."

"Then every month she'd add another couple of feet," Gary quipped.

Because they'd owned the building since 1975, they were able to expand to cater to their scrapbooking customers' needs.

"Things worked out like they're suppose to," explained Debbie (Elliott) Bates, who has taken over as the store's owner and manager from her parents. "When our renter was ready to move out, it was perfect timing. It gave us room to expand from our original 2,000 square feet to 8,000 square feet."

"The scrapbooking business has been unbelievable. It's been the single biggest growth thing we've ever done," Gary said.

Digital photo restoration was added in 2000 when Dave Clark came to work for them.

The latest addition is a portrait studio that has been open since 2005. "My daughter Debbie put that in. We have the newest state-of-the-art digital portrait studio in the two counties," Gary said.

But not everything has been a roaring success. Gary said they've tried various side, but related, businesses over the years that have faded away (including some that he didn't want to mention). "Some things you quickly learn don't work and you move on."

At one time, Elliott's was more than a one-store business. Gary said they used to have one store in Nevada City and two in Yuba City, but that as he eased into retirement he closed them down because it was so hard to be an absentee owner and have the employees do things the way he wanted them done.

And having things done right and having the right customer service is vital to Elliott's success. "It's customer service that separates us from the Walmarts," Gary said.

"There's actually a magic spot that we use to greet customers. The first day a new employee is here, Gary points out a beam that runs across the entire front of the store and he tells them they are supposed to greet customers before they reach that beam," granddaughter and employee Jennie said.

"Business is starting to come back from the recession," said Gary. "We had a real slump last year." He mentioned that, while sales tax revenue was down 20 percent in Marysville last year, they were never down that far because both scrapbooking and photograph framing are doing so well.

"We've weathered this recession unbelievably well. We're very proud of that fact," he said. He pointed out that when they bought the shop in 1971 there were 5,500 specialty camera shops in the U.S., and as of this summer there were just 1,500.

As Gary and Marjorie have pulled back further into retirement, Debbie has taken the business' reins. She said the most important thing she's learned is, "You not only have to be concerned about your customers' satisfaction; you have to make sure your employees are satisfied. Your employees are your family. If they're not happy, you'll hear about it at Christmas dinners."

She also said the best business advice she ever got she learned from Jack Feldman, former owner of Dunnes Men's Shop up D Street. His advice: "Customer service, customer service, customer service. And who is your frontline to customer service? Your employees. So you have to be mindful of your employees."

The Elliott Photo family and staff aren't resting on their laurels. They're looking ahead. Gary said that Jennie loves the studio and the scrapbooking end of it and that she would like to expand the studio work to do more (high school) senior portraits outdoors where it's more natural.

Gary added that Jennie and employee Tina Evans had an idea to do specialty seasonal studio work. He said they've purchased a Halloween-style backdrop to be used during the Marysville Halloween event and that they plan to take pictures of children in their Halloween costumes.

"The store's next expansion will probably be in the framing and portrait studio side of the business," Gary said.

Throughout the 38 years they've been open, they've stayed true to their core as a family business. In the early days when babies were abundant, they were one of the first places around that provided child care. "We built a baby room here. At one time, we had about seven children here, so we didn't take coffee breaks — we took baby breaks," said Gary.

"It was fun growing up here," Jennie said.

In that vein, Debbie said they've never been open on Sundays because that's when families shouldn't be shopping; they should be spending time together.

Contact Appeal reporter John Hollis at 741-2400 or jhol lis@appealdemocrat.com