[Thomas Bertilsson]

I guess I'm lucky. My local chain of stores, National Camera, still has a very decent darkroom section. They carry all of the big name films, Ilford papers, bar Galerie, most of their chemistry, some of Kodak's chemistry, Sprint and a few odds and ends like Diafine film developer. Edwal too. They also have darkroom supplies, and a 'used' section. There are quite a few stores in the area, and I'm very grateful for it. While it's great to have all of this down the road, their prices are sky high compared to the internet. And the staff is usually less than helpful.
I once went in there with the intent of purchasing a ball head. I wanted a 'one size fits all' tripod head until I could afford a geared head for my view camera. The guy helping me out was helpful and started looking in catalogs, while somebody else overlooking it exlaimed 'Why the hell would you want to put a view camera on a ball head?'. I walked up to him and said 'Because it's the only way I can afford it' and left.
That guy was fired eventually and I've since returned to purchase film, paper, Hypam, and Xtol.
- Thomas