July 30, 2025
Dominick Lewis is the proprietor of one in every of New York Metropolis’s few Black-owned digital camera shops, which he’s efficiently grown right into a million-dollar enterprise.
One of many few Black-owned digital camera retailers in New York Metropolis has scaled its enterprise from bringing in about $700,000 a yr to over $1 million, reworking it into what’s rapidly changing into a images staple within the metropolis.
Dominick Lewis grew his million-dollar digital camera enterprise, Photodom, from the bottom up, beginning as an e-commerce store in 2017 earlier than increasing right into a brick-and-mortar location in 2020, all with a robust community-focused mission.
“I felt that beginning one thing at the moment, particularly a bodily digital camera retailer, might have been very impactful for the neighborhood,” Lewis instructed CNBC Make It.
Simply over a yr after opening, Photodom pulled in $726,910 in complete gross sales in 2021. On the time, Lewis was paying himself round $50,000 a yr and had a crew of 5. By 2023, gross sales had climbed to $1,096,319, and in 2024, they rose even increased to $1,146,737. Lewis now leads a workers of 10 and earns a yearly wage of $97,000. His greatest pleasure is being an asset to the local people he goals to serve.
“The neighborhood loves us being right here. Folks can really feel snug going to and asking any sort of questions that they need about cameras and images,” Lewis stated.
“Being one of many solely Black owned digital camera shops is a giant duty. I really feel prefer it’s a vital factor to have this belonging as a result of prior to now, it might imply violence in the event you went to an area that was not meant for you.”
This wasn’t Lewis’s first try at launching a retailer. He initially opened a images studio in his dwelling state of Florida in 2015, however misplaced the lease simply 9 months in and realized he wanted to rethink his strategy.
Recognizing that Florida’s images market moved extra slowly, he determined to return to New York Metropolis, the place he spent a part of his childhood, and moved in together with his grandmother whereas working to construct what would develop into Photodom.
Lewis began by promoting customized merchandise and organizing “picture walks” and meetups with fellow photographers. However as his bed room overflowed with digital camera gear, he knew it was time to return to studio life. He went on to lease a studio in Brooklyn, the place he discovered a bigger, extra supportive images neighborhood.
Launching in 2020 got here with its personal advantages. With many different companies shut down, Photodom rapidly grew to become the go-to spot for movie growth within the Huge Apple. As on-line orders rolled in and demand for providers grew, Lewis realized it was time to open a bodily storefront.
He secured a second area in the identical constructing as his studio and launched a GoFundMe marketing campaign to assist convey the storefront to life. Though his objective was $25,000, Lewis raised greater than $40,000 in just some days.
“Lots of people had been supportive of the efforts to make one thing that was Black-owned and really private to the neighborhood that we served,” he says. “I knew the GoFundMe can be one thing that might assist make the area really feel extra private. I used to be shocked as a result of I didn’t suppose that many individuals knew about what I used to be doing.”
Within the 5 years since its launch, Photodom has relocated to a bigger area and broadened its providers to incorporate images lessons and workshops. Lewis envisions reworking the enterprise into an establishment devoted to the craft of images.
“My imaginative and prescient for the shop was positively to make it a one-stop store for photographers, particularly analog photographers,” Lewis shared. “I needed an area that carried a whole lot of various things. I all the time envision Photodom as an establishment. A spot that could be very obligatory for all functions round it.”
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