Central Camera Company has been owned and operated by the same family since 1899. We're Chicago's oldest camera store and one of the oldest in America. Our customers are like family and many have been with us for decades.
Our founder, Albert Flesch, came to Chicago alone at 13 years of age from his native Hungary. Albert started his work career in the camera department of Siegel, Cooper & Co., one of Chicago's large downtown department stores in the 1880s. This initiation to photography inspired him to open Central Camera Company at 31 E. Adams St. in 1899.
The year 1899 marked the 60th anniversary of Louis Daguerre's invention of the Daguerreotype, the first publicly available photographic process. In 1888, George Eastman revolutionized the photography world with his easy-to-operate Kodak box cameras. Albert Flesch began offering the innovative service of commercial film developing and print processing at his store in 1900. Central Camera Company prospered, and in 1929 settled at 230 S. Wabash Avenue, our present location.
Albert Flesch passed away in 1933 at the age of 56. Albert’s two sons, Stanley and Harold, had joined the business and together branched out into new areas such as Albert Specialty Co., a manufacturing business making tripods and other photographic equipment. Harold’s son, Albert “Don” Flesch, the current owner of Central Camera Company, started working in the store as a schoolboy in the 1950s.
On the night of May 30th 2020, fire completely destroyed Central Camera Company's home on Wabash Avenue. Don Flesch vowed the night of the fire "we are going to rebuild and make it just as good or better". Thousands of photography lovers from all over the world assisted with our fundraising campaign to make rebuilding possible, and we're now operating again in our renovated Wabash Avenue location as Don promised. We sincerely thank everyone for their generous donations and kind messages of support.
Central Camera Company is now over 125 years old and we thank you for being a part of the journey. Hope to see you at our store soon!
Albert Flesch and Albert 'Don' Flesch