On a sunny July morning, a full of life crowd gathered in Bushwick to have fun the grand “re-opening” of Photodom’s new storefront. Surrounded by household, associates, and constant clients capturing the second on the whole lot from smartphones to classic movie cameras to Polaroids — and joined by the ever-cheerful Movie Buddy mascot — founder Dominick Lewis, holding his toddler daughter, reduce the ribbon on the beloved Black-owned movie and images store’s first ground-level location at 1717 Broadway.
All through the day, guests streamed via the intense and colourful 1,600-square-foot house, shopping gear, merch, and leases. A retro claw machine crammed with plush toys, movie rolls, and cameras drew a crowd. “It’s actually my birthday!” mentioned portrait photographer Den Alexander, who was attempting to win a Movie Buddy plushie. “I thought it’d be cool to check out all the merch and see everything laid out in person in a big space.”
A customer stands by a retro claw machine throughout Photodom’s July reopening.
Lewis, eyes gleaming, soaked within the second. “I just can’t believe we can fit this many people at the store at once,” he instructed Hyperallergic.
Based in 2014 as a tribute to movie tradition, Photodom took bodily type in 2020 after Lewis raised over $35,000 via a GoFundMe marketing campaign. The unique third-floor, 400-square-foot walk-up in a 1917 Bushwick constructing housed a small store, lab, studio, and inventive workspace. Now, backed by a 10-year lease, Photodom has moved to a extra seen location.
“I feel like it legitimizes us even further,” Lewis mentioned. “Having a retail storefront on the ground floor makes us more accessible to everyone, especially those who couldn’t make it up three flights of stairs in our old space.”
Photodom founder Dominick Lewis in 2024 (picture by Christopher Hart)
The build-out course of, which had been within the making for over a yr, got here with its share of hurdles.
“There wasn’t a way to avoid the 145% tariff,” Lewis mentioned, referencing Trump’s preliminary tariff charges on Chinese language imports. Every week later, he received some aid when transport charges dropped by 10% attributable to China’s tariff changes.
The shop’s opening was additionally delayed by cargo ship schedules. Photodom’s order left China on Might 22 and arrived in New York a month later. As soon as docked, Lewis needed to coordinate transloading the products into smaller vans — a first-time expertise that required two separate journeys because of the quantity of stock.
The unique Photodom retailer in 2025 (picture courtesy Dominick Lewis)
Past retail, Photodom has turn out to be a hub for artistic schooling. The shop repeatedly hosts workshops led by each Photodom workers and visitor instructors, together with the four-part program By means of Every Course of: Be taught to Develop Your Personal Movie and A.A. – Artists Nameless, an ongoing collection of images critique nights hosted by picture editor Wendy Correa. Its ongoing artist residency program, which hosts two artists every month, supplies residents with entry to all of those providers for his or her use, creating house for experimentation, collaboration, and skill-sharing amongst rising photographers.
The newly designed house encompasses a studio, a gallery-ready format, and a full-service lab open seven days every week for creating 35mm, 120, and APS movie. Photodom additionally affords a complete vary of providers, together with digicam leases, movie processing, and inkjet printing.
A DJ spinning and guests having fun with themselves in the course of the opening occasion of Photodom’s new 1717 Broadway location
For Alexander, a daily for the final 5 years, the store’s standout function is its distinctive in-house movie. “I like to buy film when I drop off film, and the selection just ain’t there at other spots,” he instructed Hyperallergic. “Photodom has its own brand. I really like their ‘Blue Dream,’ which has blue hues all over it, and I just got their newest film, ‘Super Nova.’”
“They experiment,” Alexander continued. “It’s not just that standard Kodak, clean and crisp — you get some variation.”
Photodom’s Juneteenth celebration in 2024
That deep buyer loyalty is mirrored not simply in repeat visits, however within the crowds Photodom attracts at its flagship occasions. An annual yard sale gathered over 2,000 attendees in 2023, wrapping across the block. The World Photograph Day Photograph Stroll challenges members to cross all three East River bridges in someday. And in 2025, its Juneteenth Photograph Stroll with I Am CaribBEING guided photographers via Little Caribbean in Flatbush, ending in a full of life mixer at Miss Barb’s.
Jean-Andre Antoine, an analog road photographer noticed on opening day with a glossy Ricoh, summed up what Photodom means to many: “As a camera lover, I’m so happy that Dom is here. When I need something specific, like a piece of equipment you’d normally have to trek to the city for, or a last-minute roll of film, Dom usually has it. It’s good to have them around.”
Photodom Tremendous Nova 400 movie
A big format workshop at Photodom in 2024
