About Unique Photo
Family-owned. Photographer-run. New Jersey’s largest camera store — with a second flagship in Old City Philadelphia.
Who We Are
Unique Photo is one of the largest privately-owned photographic supply businesses in the world — and the only independent camera retailer in the country operating two large-format retail superstores, in Fairfield, New Jersey and Old City Philadelphia. Family-owned since 1947 and now in its third generation, Unique Photo sells, rents, repairs, trades, prints, teaches and ships nationally — all under one roof.
From Brooklyn studio to two-state retailer. Bernard Sweetwood founded Unique Photo in 1947. His son Jonathan grew it through the wholesale, digital, and retail eras and in 2008 opened the Fairfield superstore. Bernard’s grandson Alexander Sweetwood became President in 2015, led the opening of the Philadelphia superstore in 2019, and drove the rebuild of the company’s technology, rentals and trade-in programs.
Our Two Superstores
Fairfield, NJ — Flagship
123 US-46, Fairfield, NJ 07004
(973) 377-2007
Our 50,000-square-foot flagship is the largest camera store in the Garden State and the center of Unique University — the largest in-store photography-education program in the Northeast. Built in 2008, the Fairfield store houses our sales floor, professional photo lab, rentals counter, repair shop, trade-in desk, classrooms, and event space.
On site:
- 20,000+ products from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, DJI, Leica, Panasonic and more
- Full professional photo lab — prints, books, canvases, signage, films
- New Jersey’s largest rental department
- In-house camera repair
- Trade-in counter with instant quotes
- Multiple classrooms and event spaces for Unique University
Philadelphia, PA — Old City
28 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 372-7766
Opened in 2019, the Philadelphia store brought a true large-format camera retailer to Center City for the first time in decades. The Old City flagship serves photographers across Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley, and southeastern Pennsylvania — with the same product depth, rental fleet, photo-lab services, and Unique University classes as Fairfield.
On site:
- Full retail showroom and hands-on demo gear
- Rentals counter — the same fleet as Fairfield
- Professional photo lab and printing services
- Trade-in desk
- Classroom for Unique University workshops
What We Do
Unique Photo is built around the idea that everything a photographer needs — from a first kit lens to a multi-camera production rental — should live under one roof. Almost every service is operated in-house:
Rentals
New Jersey’s largest rental program. Same-day pickup, weekend rates, and nationwide shipping. Cameras, lenses, lighting, audio, drones and more.
Trade-Ins
Get an instant quote online, ship for free, or trade in at either store. No middleman, no haggling.
Used Gear
Every piece of used gear is inspected, tested and graded by our techs. Backed by our return policy — not a third-party marketplace.
Photo Lab
A full professional photo lab — prints, canvases, photo books, signage, film processing and scanning. Same-day pickup in store on most jobs.
Repairs
In-house camera repair for most major brands. Drop off at either store or ship it in.
Unique University
Hundreds of classes a year — in person at both stores, online, one-on-one, and on photo excursions around the world.
Our Philosophy
Customers are our most valuable asset. We’re a family-owned business in a category dominated by faceless online retailers, and the difference shows up in every interaction — from a sales associate who actually shoots the camera you’re considering, to a rental tech who’ll meet you at the door at 9am for a wedding pickup, to a photo-lab operator who’ll re-print your job at no charge until it’s exactly right.
We treat every photographer — first-time buyer, working pro, educator, hobbyist — as an individual with a unique vision. That has been the same value since 1947.
A Few Challenges Along the Way
The story of Unique Photo is not a straight line. The original Hoboken store burned down in 1964. Wholesale collapsed in the 1990s when digital cameras flattened film sales. Cell phones killed the independent camera-store ecosystem in the 2000s. COVID nearly took the entire industry down in 2020. Each time, the Sweetwood family rebuilt the company around a new model — wholesale, then retail, then digital, and now a hybrid of two-state retail plus a custom-built nationwide e-commerce platform.
Read the full history, including everything Alexander did to modernize the company →
Vision for Tomorrow
Photography keeps changing. Mirrorless replaced DSLR. AI is now part of every photographer’s workflow. Video has merged into still photography. Smartphone photography hasn’t replaced “real” cameras — it has produced a new generation of people who want them. Unique Photo is built to keep adapting: a family business that watches the industry closely, owns its technology, and stays close enough to its customers to know what they actually need.
Come visit a store, take a class, rent a kit, or browse 20,000+ products online.
Fairfield Store Philadelphia Store Unique University Our History