The one thing about NY, is that is has everything you need, food, fake handbags, beautiful people, and B&H.
If you are not familiar already, B&H is the MEGA Wonderland for all things, video, film and photography.
This place is 2 floors, practically the size a walmart and filled from floor to ceiling of amazing equipment and gear for any professional. My head wouldn’t stop twisting and turning there was so much stuff to look at, and buy! I saw things I never knew existed in the industry before.
But the best part about B&H is the staff!
These people are real. They will give you their personal opinion. They won’t try to up sell you. They don’t pressure you, and will call you out if you are walking up to a product they feel won’t be worth it.
They all are in uniform, with a beard and yarmulke , topped off with a friendly smile. But if you’re not quick to decide when you arrive at the counter, they’ll move on to the next client. These guys mean business. Did i mention there is a conveyor belt system? Where if you want something on the top floor, they’ll give put it on the conveyor belt and shimmy it down. 2010 has arrived. How personalized can your shopping get? And all I wanted was a card reader.
I want to go back, I need to go back. I guess this would be considered the male equivalent of buying shoes/handbags for women. I can’t get enough, it honestly took a lot of will power for me to control my urge to just rack up my credit card.
Also standing outside was an amazing gentleman. He wore a curved Fedora, red turtleneck and sharp blazer, I thought, who is this guy and how old is his camera and does everyone dress like this in NY?
His name is Louis Mendes, and it turns out he takes Polaroid photographs of individuals on the street and gives them a print when he’s done. In fact, he also gets his gear from B&H (2 meters away) since no one else seems to carry what he’s looking for. He offered to take a picture of me, right after my B&H shopping frenzy grinning ear to ear like a kid. When I finally sort through my suitcase, I’ll try to post it.
Can’t wait to come back and conquer B&H all over again.
Jonathan Cruz fotos 
Nice work Jonathan! Just received my 5D Mark II from the lovely folks at B&H. They rock! So, other than your Wacom Cintiq, what other toys did you bring home?
Thanks for your exciting and enthusiastic review. Hope you’ll be back soon.
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video
First-time visitor here. I was searching for a good picture of B&H for my Gmail contacts entry on B&H, hence I clicked on your blog link. I grew up in NY and have been a devoted J&R customer since I began buying electronics as a young person in 1981. I decided to check out B&H one day a few months ago out of curiosity. I almost never deviate from a trusted source for electronics. After a bit of research, I was pretty impressed with the B&H background story, their devotion to their customers, and all the good things that pop up on the internet about them. It would be extremely hard for me to give my money to any other store than J&R because the Friedman’s on Park Row have run a superb shop since 1971. One of my fondest NYC memories is going to Park Row as a child to load up on the amazing audio electronics gear of the day — I was literally a kid in an audio candy store. Well, I’d never stop buying from J&R but I’ve added B&H as a new favorite. Who knows, maybe in 30 more years I’ll add a third favorite NYC electronics store. Thanks for the great blog post. I definitely have to head out to the B&H superstore soon.