Our History
In 1953, two lawyers who admittedly didn/'t know much about photography, put up $2,000 apiece to start Camera Corner, an 800-sq. ft. camera retailer with three total employees at the corner of Washington and Walnut Streets in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin (pop. 53,000).
Tremendous growth has pushed Camera Corner / Connecting Point/'s annual gross revenue to just shy of $40 million, with a workforce just over 100 people. True to our roots, our third-generation company still sits on a corner in downtown Green Bay and still has a Chernick family member at the helm; Chief Executive Officer Rick Chernick.
Chernick/'s father, Norman, partnered with fellow attorney Bob Collins in a storefront venture which attracted police officers, firemen, doctors, lawyers and other downtown workers. Camera Corner grew by building relationships with those customers and by being unafraid to try new things. We began to sell audio-video equipment, copy machines and even greeting cards. On a Saturday in 1960, we moved kitty-corner to the northwest corner of Washington and Walnut, with beat cops stopping traffic while employees carried items through the intersection.
By 1975, Rick Chernick was vice president and we moved up the street to the corner of Washington and Pine, before opening a second store in Beacon Center, at the corner of Mason and Military on Green Bay/'s west side, which soon housed the area/'s first industrial video showroom. We parlayed our 20-year relationship with Bell and Howell into the ability to offer equipment from upstart Apple Computer. During the early 1980s, we begin our annual technology expo, which brings together hundreds of our vendors and nearly 1,000 of our clients in what exhibitors tell us is the country/'s largest technology show staged by a single dealer.
 In 1984, Rick Chernick was named president and we opened the 2,200 sq. ft Communicator/'s Center store at 225 N. Washington. Norman Chernick retired a year later. Camera Corner was the Chamber of Commerce/'s "Small Business of the Year" in 1988. One year later, we began our affiliation with the Connecting Point Computer Center chain and Camera Corner/Connecting Point moved 32 employees into a new 21,000 sq. ft. facility at the corner of Main and Monroe Streets. Within seven years, we nearly doubled our workforce, to 63 people, necessitating a 5,000 sq. ft. addition, highlighting a four-phase expansion.
We had grown to 95 employees by 1998, when Rick Chernick was named to the Green Bay Packer Board of Directors. Three years later we opened a state-of-the-art Web Hosting Center, housing not only our own website, but hundreds of customer sites and allowing us also to eventually begin "Software as a Service" application hosting.
August, 2005 brought the opening of our Digital Photo Cafe, a unique blend of self-service and advice from our friendly, experienced staff which allows customers to edit and print digital photos in a clean, inviting environment. Two years later, those customers saw our showroom blossom during a nearly year-long remodel which blended our retail computer and photo operations while creating a relaxed new Sony display area of LCD televisions. Today/'s bustling building is pushing 30,000 square feet.
In 2008, the web center was totally rebuilt and Chernick was named to CRN Magazine/'s "Top 25 Executives of 2008" list, a national honor. He was No. 8 on the list, which was topped by Mark Hurd, CEO of HP, a $141 billion enterprise. Chernick serves on HP/'s SMB Council and is one of 12 resellers (among some 22,000) on the Ingram Micro Council. Ingram Micro is a $38 billion international distributor and the second-largest supplier to CC/CP.
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