For almost seven many years, Biggs Camera has been a hub for the pictures neighborhood in Charlotte

By Cameron Lee

March 5, 2026

There aren’t many family-owned companies in Charlotte which have lasted almost seven many years — even fewer which have survived in an trade as fast-moving as pictures and video. But Biggs Camera has completed precisely that.

Originally opened in 1959 by Neil Biggs as Hi-Fi Camera Center in Charlottetown Mall, the enterprise emerged throughout a interval of main transformation in Charlotte. As town shifted after World War II from a producing and agriculture-based financial system right into a quickly rising Southern banking hub, suburban client tradition started to flourish, and Biggs Camera grew to become a part of that retail increase.

In the late ‘80s, as Charlottetown Mall fell into decline, Hi-Fi Camera Center transitioned into Biggs Camera and moved to its current location at 805 South Kings Drive. Founder Neil Biggs, who passed away in late 2020 at the age of 94, brought a creative background to the business long before opening the store, working as a photographer, printer, and graphic designer for Esso (now ExxonMobil), developing technical and visual skills that would later define the shop’s customer-first philosophy. 

From the start, Biggs bought greater than cameras. The retailer carried pictures tools, movie processing providers, and hi-fi audio gear, serving to modernize Charlotte’s pictures retail market. Biggs was among the many first within the area to introduce same-day movie processing and later helped pioneer one-hour photograph turnaround providers — improvements that helped reshape the native market. 

Shortly earlier than digital pictures started shifting the trade within the early ‘90s, present common supervisor Troy Tomlinson joined Biggs. Fresh out of highschool, Tomlinson arrived with some prior expertise from a digital camera retailer in Frostburg, Maryland. At the time, Biggs was one in all a number of pictures retailers competing throughout town.

“We had two other independent camera stores. We had Camera World and Charlotte Camera, and then you had multiple Wolf cameras all over the city. And then, plus, you know, every drugstore out there processed film as well,” Tomlinson stated.

Despite the competitors, Biggs constructed its status on technical experience and customer support — emphasizing accessibility and schooling for photographers of all ability ranges.

That strategy left an enduring impression on present worker, photographer, and social media supervisor Sarah Bush, earlier than she labored on the retailer.

“First I was a customer… and I just really just appreciated the way that you are treated there,” Bush stated. “I got a film camera at an estate sale and… didn’t know how to use it at all. I didn’t even know how to load it. And I’ll never forget Joey… was super welcoming, super warm, and didn’t make me feel stupid and showed me how to load the camera.”

Biggs Camera: Built on Service and Community

Biggs Camera has at all times functioned as greater than a retail retailer — it has served as a hub for Charlotte’s photograph and videography neighborhood.

Since 2021, the store has produced “Film Fridays,” a social media sequence created by employees members Joey and Brandt that highlights the work of native movie photographers. When Bush took over social media operations in May 2025, the store expanded its digital storytelling, that includes extra native artists with private captions written in their very own phrases.

“I think that the reason Biggs has really lasted is because of our community… we just wouldn’t be anything without our community,” Bush stated. “And I feel like the best way to give back to the community is just by highlighting the different artists… which can be kind of difficult because there’s so many. I just feel like that’s the backbone of Biggs.”

The result’s a visible archive of Charlotte’s expertise — a sprawling assortment of pictures spanning totally different movie shares, digital camera codecs, and creative types that displays the area’s rising pictures tradition.

Changing Customers, Changing Culture

Beyond the shift from analog to digital pictures, Tomlinson has additionally witnessed main demographic shifts amongst prospects.

“In the ‘90s, you know, we had… it was an older white male, basically, that was our main clientele. And now it’s a much younger generation for the most part,” Tomlinson stated. “We still have the older clientele as well, but, you know, the age has definitely gone down quite a bit.”

The Biggs crew has embraced that change, encouraging photographers of all backgrounds to study and develop their craft.

“You know, in this day and age where we’re at right now with the given climate where, you know, DEI and all that seems to be put onto the table — we are trying to actually be the opposite of that, and try to help promote diversity and, you know, inclusion,” Tomlinson stated.

The Resurgence of Film

One of the most important causes Biggs Camera has continued thriving is the fashionable resurgence of movie pictures.

Tomlinson says the shop now processes extra movie than it did throughout the peak of the Nineties — almost 37,000 rolls in 2025 alone.

Film pictures has skilled a cultural revival because the mid-2010s, particularly amongst youthful photographers and artistic communities. Many describe the motion as each nostalgic and extra aesthetically pleasing — a response to digital oversaturation.

“It’s been in high demand for quite some time. It’s the younger generations kind of taking it over. And, you know, back in the ‘90s, there were tons of places that processed film,” Tomlinson stated. “Now we’re one of only two places in the Charlotte area that process.”

Popular movies like Kodak Portra 400 stay favorites due to their velvety, natural rendering and forgiving publicity, whereas Portra 800 is most popular for low-light capturing whereas sustaining related colour traits.

The C-41 course of stays the usual chemical technique for growing colour unfavourable movie, and prospects are even buying 8mm and Super 8 film movie for its nostalgic, grainy look. 

Vintage point-and-shoot cameras from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early aughts have additionally surged in recognition — together with cameras just like the Contax T2, popularized partially by celebrities reminiscent of Zendaya, as Bush famous.

“People aren’t always looking for the highest resolution images anymore… and I think that’s kind of driven by a younger generation that… just want something that looks a little different,” Tomlinson stated.

Moving Forward in a Growing, Ever-Evolving Industry

As the variety of photographers on the earth continues rising — from hobbyists to professionals to informal creators — Biggs Camera continues to prioritize accessibility and schooling.

Bush emphasised that social media progress must also help the neighborhood that helped construct the model.

“What’s the point of growing [social media] and getting more and more views and more and more eyes, but not bringing people with us that are the reason that it all exists?” Bush stated. “It’s a really great way to give back to the people that give so much to us.”

The roughly 10-person employees is essentially composed of photographers with various artistic types, and their social media reels typically display product information and technical experience.

While movie processing stays a core a part of the enterprise, Biggs has at all times been a full-service pictures and videography store, promoting cameras, lenses, equipment, and even drones, whereas frequently adapting to altering occasions.

For Bush, one of the vital necessary features of pictures — and the inspiration of Biggs Camera — isn’t the tools and product in any respect, it’s consolation.

“The main thing is, people need to be comfortable and respected, and that’s it,” Bush stated. “It doesn’t matter the gear, the lens, or the location. Is there good energy between the two people? Is there respect between the two people? Then it’s gonna be the best result that it could possibly be.”

Biggs Camera
805 S. Kings Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28204
(704) 377-3492

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