Cox Studio Closing Its Doors After Decades Of Business
December 22, 2021 at 2:21 a.m.
Cox Studio Closing Its Doors After Decades Of Business
By David [email protected]
As Klondaris and his sister, Cindy Hampton, are retiring, their business, Cox Studio, is closing its doors and selling everything, including the building at the corner of Market and High streets.
“We are going to be here until Christmas and we are going to be open after the Christmas break. We’ll be here, coming in, in January, to give people the opportunity to pick up stuff because – believe it or not – there’s still a lot of stuff here that people just haven’t picked up. We want them to have it,” Klondaris said in an interview Monday.
In the spring, around March or April, there will be an online auction and everything in the building will be sold. The building will then be sold, and Klondaris said he’s already had three inquiries.
“I don’t think selling the building will be a problem. I don’t want to be a landlord,” he said.
Cox Studio has been at 151 S. High St., Warsaw, since 1985. The building, built in 1970 as a Goodyear Tire store, was purchased from J. Alan Morgan. Morgan had bought it around 1978, Klondaris estimated, and put in an antique store.
The building is 6,000 square feet and one story. It has 14-foot ceilings.
“It’s been a great building for us,” Klondaris said. “A wonderful, wonderful location. Retiring sounds kind of weird like you’re giving up, I’m going to retire, sit back and die. But that’s not what I’m going to do.”
Klondaris said he came here into business in 1973 for about a year, then left and traveled through Europe and north Africa. He returned “in earnest” in 1977 and has been here ever since. Hampton has been here since about the same time.
Klondaris is a third-generation photographer.
“The business was started in 1944 by my mother’s father. His name was Clarence Cox and his wife Lena Cox. And they started the business in 1944. They had a grocery store. Ironically, it’s called Cox Brothers Grocery Store and it’s the same building where Blosser’s is. It was just one of those little neighborhood grocery stores,” he said.
At that time, during World War II, everything was rationed and it was difficult to make any money.
“So he always, I guess, had a fascination with cameras so he started a photography business and did work for J.O. Zimmer. And then took baby portraits. He went to the Winona School of Professional Photography in Winona Lake,” Klondaris said.
Clarence died unexpectedly.
Klondaris’ dad, Terry, was in business with his dad at the Humpty Dumpty. He came back from the war, went to Indiana University on the G.I. Bill and got a business degree. When Terry returned to Warsaw with his degree, he worked in the family restaurant business.
“When Clarence died in 1956, (Terry) stepped in. He didn’t know anything about photography, but again, the Winona School of Professional Photography was just over there in Winona. He took classes there and started in,” Klondaris said.
He took photos of anything that came along – weddings, groups, babies, etc.
“Then I came in in 1973. Took my last wedding in 2012,” Klondaris said. “But we’ve done lots of commercial work for all the orthopedic houses. Biomet, when they first started out back in the early ’80s, (we) used to work with Jerry Ferguson and stuff. I’ve had a great career. I’ve met so many nice people.”
While he said it’s a fun business, neither his kids or his sister’s are interested in keeping it going.
Klondaris said he doesn’t know where people will go for framing, but Cox Studio will have lots of equipment for sale.
The staff of Cox Studio includes Klondaris, Hampton and Rachel Miner. At one time, their staff was bigger, but that was a different time, he said.
Klondaris received his master’s in photography in 2001 from Professional Photographers of America, which he’s been a member of his whole career. He’s done work in a lot of different states, from Michigan to Oklahoma and parts in between.
His body of work is so large, Klondaris couldn’t pick just one favorite.
As Klondaris and his sister, Cindy Hampton, are retiring, their business, Cox Studio, is closing its doors and selling everything, including the building at the corner of Market and High streets.
“We are going to be here until Christmas and we are going to be open after the Christmas break. We’ll be here, coming in, in January, to give people the opportunity to pick up stuff because – believe it or not – there’s still a lot of stuff here that people just haven’t picked up. We want them to have it,” Klondaris said in an interview Monday.
In the spring, around March or April, there will be an online auction and everything in the building will be sold. The building will then be sold, and Klondaris said he’s already had three inquiries.
“I don’t think selling the building will be a problem. I don’t want to be a landlord,” he said.
Cox Studio has been at 151 S. High St., Warsaw, since 1985. The building, built in 1970 as a Goodyear Tire store, was purchased from J. Alan Morgan. Morgan had bought it around 1978, Klondaris estimated, and put in an antique store.
The building is 6,000 square feet and one story. It has 14-foot ceilings.
“It’s been a great building for us,” Klondaris said. “A wonderful, wonderful location. Retiring sounds kind of weird like you’re giving up, I’m going to retire, sit back and die. But that’s not what I’m going to do.”
Klondaris said he came here into business in 1973 for about a year, then left and traveled through Europe and north Africa. He returned “in earnest” in 1977 and has been here ever since. Hampton has been here since about the same time.
Klondaris is a third-generation photographer.
“The business was started in 1944 by my mother’s father. His name was Clarence Cox and his wife Lena Cox. And they started the business in 1944. They had a grocery store. Ironically, it’s called Cox Brothers Grocery Store and it’s the same building where Blosser’s is. It was just one of those little neighborhood grocery stores,” he said.
At that time, during World War II, everything was rationed and it was difficult to make any money.
“So he always, I guess, had a fascination with cameras so he started a photography business and did work for J.O. Zimmer. And then took baby portraits. He went to the Winona School of Professional Photography in Winona Lake,” Klondaris said.
Clarence died unexpectedly.
Klondaris’ dad, Terry, was in business with his dad at the Humpty Dumpty. He came back from the war, went to Indiana University on the G.I. Bill and got a business degree. When Terry returned to Warsaw with his degree, he worked in the family restaurant business.
“When Clarence died in 1956, (Terry) stepped in. He didn’t know anything about photography, but again, the Winona School of Professional Photography was just over there in Winona. He took classes there and started in,” Klondaris said.
He took photos of anything that came along – weddings, groups, babies, etc.
“Then I came in in 1973. Took my last wedding in 2012,” Klondaris said. “But we’ve done lots of commercial work for all the orthopedic houses. Biomet, when they first started out back in the early ’80s, (we) used to work with Jerry Ferguson and stuff. I’ve had a great career. I’ve met so many nice people.”
While he said it’s a fun business, neither his kids or his sister’s are interested in keeping it going.
Klondaris said he doesn’t know where people will go for framing, but Cox Studio will have lots of equipment for sale.
The staff of Cox Studio includes Klondaris, Hampton and Rachel Miner. At one time, their staff was bigger, but that was a different time, he said.
Klondaris received his master’s in photography in 2001 from Professional Photographers of America, which he’s been a member of his whole career. He’s done work in a lot of different states, from Michigan to Oklahoma and parts in between.
His body of work is so large, Klondaris couldn’t pick just one favorite.
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