Good old Jessops

There's been a lot on this forum recently about camera stores ignoring Pentax or running them down to sell Canons.
Jessops in particular used to get a lot of stick largely because of their total indifference to Pentax. Since their renaissance I've noticed a big change in attitude at their new, larger store in Gateshead's MetroCentre. I've commented previously on their dedicated Pentax stand there alongside the usual Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus displays.
On Saturday I popped in to buy a carrying case for my recent new tripod. The first member of staff I saw was wearing a Pentax t-shirt. Then as I was checking out tripod cases I saw him dealing with customers at the Pentax stand and doing a good selling job on the Pentax models. A young woman was obviously torn between a new Canon and a new Pentax. He ran through the merits of each model fairly, obviously the two models had similar specification and comparable price. I then heard him say something along these lines: 'Pentax have to work harder than Canon to sell and their models and this one has built in shake reduction and weather sealing. The Canon doesn't.'
I couldn't see which Pentax DSLR he was handling but it was one with an articulated rear screen so it wasn't like my K30, K5 or K3 and I don't know which camera she eventually bought but I reckon Jessops on Tyneside are doing a good job on behalf of my favourite camera firm.
David

Good to hear that David, and good to hear that some Pentax product training has arrived at Jessops.

just so indiffrent in the stores jessops need to do more on staffs atitudes towards customers across the board you go to places like bristol and basingstoke you cant fault them on customer service you go to reading and they are the most aragent staff i have come across

The last time that I looked, the local (Cambridge) branch of John Lewis still did not have any Pentax model on display. I commented on this once to one of the sales staff, but he seemed to have no interest in knowing about some of the advantages that Pentax dslr cameras offered. I see that the John Lewis online catalogue does include several Pentax models, but I have never seen one in my local branch.

Martin

Pentax rep in situ in Kingston on Thames - good range of cameras and lenses available

One Pentax K50 stuck in the corner of jessops in Shrewsbury. They might just as well not have bothered!

I thought Jessops were deceased long ago!

Our Chesterfield Jessops is still empty as is our (lease ended) London Camera Exchange. John Lewis in Sheffield had a red K50, a K3 in the bottom of a case and no extra lenses. They list current models on their website which you can collect but not try out in store without paying up front. Jessops in Meadowhall apologised but said they were too small for Pentax stock. They sold most everything else though!

There is a trend (also followed by Dixons/Currys/Pc World brand) it seems to list current on web shops but use retail stores for the leftovers. That is if you have any retail stores.

I was in there the other week, think the red K50 kit was a return and on offer, I did see a DA55-300 WR and the DA50 1.8 in the cabinet although there was no big Pentax branding to highlight these.

Regards

George