Company History

It was April 2, 1954 and the United States was settling down after the conclusion of the Korean War.  McDonald's hamburgers were fifteen cents and the  Ohio State  Buckeyes were Big 10 and National Football Champions. Also, on this date  brothers Cushman "Jick" Cordle,  and William "Bud" Cordle and their mother Laura Cordle began operation of Fast Photo Service, a wholesale black and white film processing company later to be incorporated as Cord Camera. It was Bud Cordle who had the motivation to enter the photo processing business.

This soon grew into a business with a staff of thirteen employees. The original operation was in the basement of the Cordle family home. After three months it was evident that a new location was a necessity. The move was then made to 8 E. Fifteenth Avenue, at the crossroads to The Ohio State University. During the years between 1954 to 1957, the wholesale business grew from a few accounts up to 68. In 1957 the wholesale business was sold to Tru-Photo. In June 1954, the store, Cord #1, soon became known as an aggressive retail photographic equipment, supplies and lab operation.

At this point in time the store was very much a family operation. Jick handled the retail business and did the bookkeeping while Bud and their mother operated the custom Black and White photo lab. Many deliveries were made by Jick's wife Jenny who would take their three infant sons in the car or van because she could not find a last minute babysitter. As Jick's three sons grew older they began to work a few hours here and a few hours there at the store. Cord Store 1 showed steady growth from year to year. The boys, Bob, Steve, and Dave became even more active as the years went on.

Cord's Store 2 was opened in 1966, at Lane Avenue and North High Street. It became a totally new concept as 22 rental labs (18 black and white and 4 color) were in operation and customers could rent time and space. In 1972 Cord Store 3 opened for business at State and High Streets where the Verne Riffe Center now stands.

Bud Cordle retired in 1975 and the business was operated by Jick and his sons. Cord Store 4 on Morse Road was opened in 1979 and the first corporate move was made in 1981 to the lower level of the newly opened Cord Store located on Kenny Road. This store boasted of having the first color mini lab in Columbus and only the second in Ohio. The Cord corporate staff numbered eight people.

By this time Jick's sons became owners in the corporation. In 1983 the company opened Cord Store 7 at 1132 West Fifth Avenue comprising 9200 square feet, and the second corporate move in two years was made.

The Cord corporate staff moved in August of 1990 to new offices and warehouse facility. The corporate staff then numbered twenty-six. The Cord Corporate Center was 12,000 square feet and sat on a little over one acre of land. From 1983 until 1998, eighteen Cord Centers had been opened to give Cord a total of twenty-six stores and full coverage of Central Ohio.

June of 1995, Cord took a bold step and purchased a three store photographic retailer in central Indiana. This gave Cord two stores in Indianapolis and one in Bloomington, Indiana. In the following years Cord has opened five more stores in central Indiana.

In early April 1998 Cord took another bold step and acquired a camera store in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. This was followed by the purchase of two stores in Warren and Youngstown, Ohio in November 1998. This was to be the start of Cord's presence in northeastern Ohio.

Early in 1999, the Cord corporate staff again moved to a larger facility located at 2030 Dividend Drive in an Industrial Park located between Trabue and Roberts Road and is visible from the I-270 freeway on the west side of Columbus. June of 1999 found the opening of the fourth northeastern Ohio store, in Mentor, Ohio.

Cord presently owns and operates nineteen stores, and is the largest photographic retailer in the Mid-West.