I am back after a week in London. As I was there with the family and since Umit & Son was quite far away from the hotel, I had decided not to go there. But on our final day in London we visited the Epping Ongar Railway, and then we suddenly was not too far from Hackney while passing with the Underground. My wife and son was kind enough to follow me there even if they had no interest. Sorry, Tyler, I would have loved a cup of coffee as you suggested, but this was quite unplanned and since I was with my family it was just a quick peek for me. I would sure have enjoyed a coffee with a fellow forum member.
The shop isn't very big, but trust me, it is even less room to walk inside than you think! The shop is absolutely stuffed full with... things. Many projectors, and film related stuff, but also things like an old TV and other things. He has a few DVDs, but the shop is about film. It was very difficult to understand what was for sale and not, and I am still not sure if I understood it all. He seems to have a lot of personal things there as well as he says that some things are not for sale. When I asked what was for sale I was guided to two shelves that at first seemed to be at an area not meant for public. I browsed through them. It was not many features of interest for me. Maybe for others. The digest and shorts section was of more interest. A lot seemed to be things I was not too interested in. He had a few Laurel & Hardy's, but I ended up buying a 200' of Disney. The box was very nice, but I didn't look inside. Unfortunately the films showed up to be very red. The price wasn't too bad, though.
Film wise it was a bit disappointing. But what I loved about the visit was to talk to Umit himself. He was indeed a very nice man. We had a great talk (for as long as I thought I could keep my family waiting). I wish I could be there longer. both for browsing more thoroughly and to have better time to talk to Umit. There were several other customers coming and going, so maybe I didn't understand it all what he had to offer, or maybe some deals were made in advance. In any case it was nice to see that he had customers coming.
Even if you won't find too many new films, I really do recommend going there for the experience. Here are three shots I took.