Boston, MA—New England’s largest digital imaging equipment retailer has added a coveted new honor to its record of achievement: The Retailers Association of Massachusetts (RAM) presented Hunt’s Photo & Video of Melrose, Massachusetts, with its 2011 Retailer of the Year Award in recognition of Hunt’s continuous dedication to providing customers with exceptional products, unparalleled service and originality.
The Award was announced at the 2011 RAM luncheon and awards ceremony marking the 14th anniversary of the RAM Awards of Excellence (the RAMAEs). During the Retailer of the Year Award presentation at Bentley University, RAM board member and ceremony emcee Rick Segel called Hunt’s a story from which “other retailers can learn,” and noted the company’s growth from neighborhood drugstore to digital imaging dynasty.
“Hunt’s Photo and Video has represented the best retailing we have seen in Massachusetts over the past year,” said Jon Hurst, RAM president. “Their longstanding tradition of customer service and variety of product has made them one of the top retailers in the state.”
Opened in 1889 and purchased by pharmacist Solomon Farber in 1952, Hunt’s was an old-fashioned drugstore with a section for photo equipment and film until the 1970s, when big-chain pharmacies began crowding out the smaller competitors. With a growing interest in cameras and the future of neighborhood pharmacies in question, Farber’s son, Jack, began downsizing the prescription side of the business and expanding the focus on the sale of photography equipment and film, opening a new 30,000-square-foot facility at 100 Main Street in 1985.
Just five years later with the interest in cameras and video equipment in full swing, Jack, now president of the company, closed the pharmacy and initiated the marketing strategy that turned the former Hunt’s Drug into the imaging equipment powerhouse it is today with eight stores in four New England states.
Now known as Hunt’s Photo & Video and run by Jack’s sons, Scott Farber and Gary Farber, Hunt’s is known for its relentless focus on three basic principles: unparalleled customer service; a highly trained and experienced sales staff; and competitive pricing. “It seems like digital cameras are sold everywhere these days, so to be successful we need to offer our customers an experience they are not going to receive anywhere else,” said Hunt’s president, Scott Farber. “We try every day to accomplish this and it has worked for Hunt’s. We sell photography in our stores, not cameras.” huntsphotoandvideo.com
