Black’s Super Store

I came in here to get my passport photos taken; in retrospect, I should have just waited and gone elsewhere but since I’m often lazy and this is steps from my work and where I was meeting a friend for dinner, convenience won out.
First of all, this store is really weird if yo’uve never been inside. It’s a MASSIVE location and I really don’t think it needs to be. Far too much space and not enough staff to deal with the demand they probably get. There were two people at the cash and a bit of a lineup when I arrived but with time to kill, I ended up waiting just a bit.
When I got to the cash I told the lady that I wanted a passport photo taken and she rang it up immediately without telling me the price beforehand. Great balls of fire, $ 24.85 including tax is crazy for passport photos! I’m given to understand they can be done cheaper elsewhere and I’d suggest shopping around for a better price before coming to Blacks. I would have appreciated being told how much it was before she rung it up, however, I ended up paying the price. A few minutes later the same woman (after running around a bit) told me to head over to the lone stool sitting in the store. She told me to take off my glasses, my earrings and to have a seat and not to smile.
Years ago I used to work in a photo studio and we took lots of passport photos and I myself have actually taken passport photos as well. The one thing I couldn’t understand is why they don’t have a better area to take these kinds of photos in. NEVER before have I had an issue with glare off MY skin in a photo. The woman took one and then brought the camera over to me and showed me glare that was happening off my skin, handed me a tissue and told me to wipe my forehead. Considering I wasn’t sweating and I was wearing matte powder makeup, I’m pretty sure the issue was hers in taking the photo. She took it again and the same thing happened and then she changed a few things, took the last photo and it came out fine.
Frankly, I found her service to be pretty rude and I wasn’t too pleased with the rest of the service I got. It was a «next, okay get the hell out of my way, next person» kind of attitude. I picked up my photos a day later and while they’re not to MY standard for a passport photograph, I’m assuming they’ll be fine when I send them in.
Overall, this store has little to no service and it doesn’t seem like the staff working there know much or are willing to help. I won’t be back here unless I’m desperate for something. I’ll go to my local Black’s, like I should have in the first place, where you get exceptional customer service.

I’ve walked in here quite a few times to peruse even before purchasing a proper camera for photography because I do like to see the fancy dslr cameras in their shiny displays to go along with the fact that it’s a big store so you have quite a bit of area to walk around and play with.
My pet peeve with this particular Black’s is that while they claim to be a «super store» it does not seem to add anything to any other Black’s store I’ve been to, to warrant the «super» title. Now I’m just talking about products, for all I know they could have a whole slew of behind the scene services offered such as workshops etc etc.
Although I did buy my dslr from a Black’s in Brampton, I chose this location to have my complimentary one on one tutorial since I’ve visited this store more, was familiar with the staff member and liked what he had to say.
Unfortunately there was a double booking (or my booking was lost in the shuffle somewhere) and my appointment was delayed and when he finally got to me it was a very rushed service (not his fault as he was the only one working the entire digital photography section) and had to end up passing me along to another guy. Overall the one on one session did not teach me much, they didn’t have a real structure planned out apart from the most basic info and when I tried to ask specific questions regarding white balance, ISO etc they would just tell me pretty generic answers I could easily have found out via a quick Google search. It was useful for some practical «camera care» questions I had and for recommendations of a good case etc, but I could have done all that as a walk in customer. So thumbs down for Black’s for having the one on one session so widely advertised but the end product falling short of what it could have been. Then again it’s free so it’s better than nothing.
Two more services offered here (and in all other Black’s I assume)
Passport pictures: I’ve said this for other Black’s stores too, but Black’s is not the place for passport photos, they really are just too expensive, other than that wait times are average and of course the picture quality is good.
Prints: They have frequent offers for cheap prints so if you’re in no rush and want to get some pictures printed, I would suggest waiting for such a sale to happen. But their rates seem to be not too high.
The camera I purchased for $ 550 dropped down to $ 500 within a month of my purchasing it all I had to do was bring in my receipt and I got the price difference back, so more money to spend on accessories. I like Black’s in that way.
Overall a good camera store, more pricey than average in certain aspects and they could really do more to make the customer experience seem more like the one they advertise they can be.

Wow i did not know that this store is considered as a blacks super store but i was surprised at how large the space was when i walked in. I must say this is the biggest blacks Ive been to. Lots of open space. many cameras and accessories but i really didnt have the time to browse.
I had spent such over an hour tryin to upload my photos to print through their website. Although i could log into my online account it said my user name did not exist. I ended up having to create another name w. Another email. Frustrating.
I went to the blacks approx 4 hours later to pick up my one hour eta photos. There were 3 people in front of me butter service was very slow. When it was my turn the sales woman was grumpy, took my phone number, grabbed my photos and tossed it at me. I was a little shocked at how rude she was. I opened thr box to see my photos and i thought either the paper was brown or the cutter was rusty because the edges had a tint of brown around them. The eyes looked like they had been dotted w. Markers and we looked like cartoons. I laughed because it seemed funny but realy. These photos were part of our wedding thank you cards.
I remember having a conversation with someone in a different blacks… they said that if the quality or colouring was not to par… they would reprint them for free… i was definitely not happy with the quality of THese photos. but with the attitude i got… Im just not going to bother coming back.
Note to manager — Im the customer. Dont throw what i paid for at me.