Camera shops diappearing

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between

Sentimentality, nostalgia, a yearning for days long gone cloud my vision of the bright future that awaits us all. My children have no problem with going on line, doing a little research, then pressing another button and having the gratification of their desires fulfilled within days.

Why wait until next week or next month for the latest one-sided magazine review of products that are differentiated only by the makers label stamped on the front?

Why would you want to spend time going to a real shop, where you could talk to someone who has intimate personal knowledge and a vested interest in the limited range of products 'they' have 'chosen' to stock?

Why spend more at a shop when you can spend less on line, including p&p?

In fact why spend all that money buying new when you can go to the classifieds and get as good as new 2nd hand?

Ah yes, 'the world has moved on and we must move with it or be left behind' (S King, The Dark Tower) . Why ask these question at all when we already know the answers, things are what they are and camera shops are an idea from a foreign country. The manufacturers are part of the new reality that is on-line shopping. They just need to transition to the next level which will be direct sales from the factory to your door cutting out on-line retailers such as Amazon et al. Let the dead lie in peace, sadly camera shops belong to a bygone era, sic transit gloria mundi.

Nostagia's not what it used to be.....

In Glasgow's once famous Sauchiehall Street there were three dealers selling between them Pentax, Leica and Hasselblad. Then there were three Jessops stores. Now there are none.

I must say that I do agree with Lu's comments above.

Some shops in the US will now match any online prices, notably Best Buy who will match any online price from US suppliers, and Target who will match Amazon prices of US companies. I suspect more shops will try this strategy to stay in business.

I recently bought a lens at Best Buy, but they have rather defeated the object of their price-matching drive as they will not let you try out lenses in the shop. The lens hood on the one I bought was faulty. I had to buy the lens, try it outside the shop, then return it for a refund, and buy another one. They then put the one I had returned.back in the cupboard with their new lenses

Probably the last camera shop that would actually make you a
camera closed 30 years ago in Liverpool and the last member
of the family that owned the shop died last month....

Gordon Moore RIP

Their most famous camera Aptus Automatic Ferrotype was used
by outdoor fairground photographers all over the world.

http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_C79.html

They certainly had some unusual stuff in the shop

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I'm not 100% sure that ALL high street camera shops are in decline, I think it's that the ones who don't keep up to date with changing consumer demands and spending patterns are...looking around the web there's quite a few small independant shops which seem to be thriving on the internet, ones that beforehand I'd never even heard of.

Doesn't this partially reflect one of the bad practices of UK businesses...build up a business, gain customers, then sit on your *rse for the next 30yrs without changing expecting still to do well !!

Just my thoughts of course

Simon

Its not about keeping up to date, its about running a shop as a shop which means keeping goods in stock to sell. When i go into a shop to buy something i have obviously thought that shop will solve my problem, all purchases are problem solvers. If that store does not stock what i require then they have wasted my time and petrol.

Unfortunately to many stores have forgotten this, jessops was a classic example of this failure, being told repeatedly to go home, order from their website to be delivered to their store to try out is not acceptable in this decade. Apart from a few flagship stores the majority of their stores did not carry dslrs over £600 in value or fast zoom lenses, once you start doing that you lose customer trust. Jessops business model was to sell consumer starter dslr bodies and slow zooms, hoping to make money by selling expensive overly priced memory cards for £35 which could be bought elsewhere online for £10ish again this rubs up the photographer who needs a card desperately, are they going to return to a store that wants to sell them cards at over three times the going rate? No!

I bought my k-5 mkii as part of the trade in deal and ordered over the phone from SRS who gave me a good deal, good service and more importantly had my item in stock, no waiting, just a good old fashioned working shop business model. My local jessops on the oer hand could not get one in stock for me to purchase over the counter, i would have to order online. My last purchase from jessops was my 35mm 2.4 which on jessops website was £129 in store it was £149 the store couldnt pricematch the web exclusive price, i could however stand in the store order it on my phone and collect it instore over the counter, what a crazy ridiculous way to run a business!

I agree with your point but you're also supporting mine as I said they need to keep up with consumer spending, today we have instant access to web prices from a whole host of companies, if high street shops aren't clever enough to take advantage of the online market then they are inevitably doomed...the world moves on and business needs to adapt to it to succeed

Simon

Apart from food shopping all my purchases are made online. I do tend to buy from companies I have dealt with before. Usually free postage unless I need it next day. Feel a bit sorry for those losing their jobs due to this trend of online everything.

Online + mobile cameras + filmless digital = little reason for camera shops. What I AM surprised at is that Jessops, Jacobs etc didn't do a better job of online.

Interesting that LCE and Mr Cad, both carrying a lot of used, are still around after the big chains have passed away.

+1 on Amazon superstore, you can see it coming.

Just returning after a long absence into Camera buying, and I can't believe the lack of shops on the high street.

I'm in Nottingham which is hardly the Hebrides, but as far as I can tell I have a choice of 3 retailers to physically shop at.

1. LCE (which don't sell pentax, nearest branch that does in Worcester).
2. John Lewis (only sell cannon/ Nikon DSLR's)
3. PC World (Did actually sell the K30 but their staff are useless)

I'D like to try out an old K5 model, but it looks like my only option is a trek down to Watford/ SRS.

But not only will you be able to try out the K5 with a variety of lenses at a very good retailer but also sample the delights of Watford...

I'm afraid I find that Hebrides remark quite offensive, is there something, in this digital age, particularly remote about anywhere? But, hey, you live in a surging metropolis

Birmingham's only about half an hour by train.... Jessops flagship store, check it out, lots of Pentax goodies. Nice city to walk around taking pictures too!

That is definitely an Oxymoron! I'd prefer to go to the outer Hebrides in the middle of a winter storm than Birmingham.