Jessops at it again!!

It's a recipe for short-term survival. Having survived, they can then think about the future.

G

Then it's just a question of when, not if, they go bust.

Why make excuses for them? You can explain the status quo, but what we need as Pentax fans is for them to do something different, now.

Short-term strategy doesn't have to exclude Pentax products anyway. It just takes intelligent strategy.

When the ship is sinking to tend to put all your effort into baling out, not thinking about where you will book for dinner when you arrive!

They will never have time to think about the future if they leave it until their current problems are over, because there will always be more problems immedately afterwards.

There will never be plain sailing for Jessops! Competition from supermarkets and online shopping is so great. That means they need to think ahead during the storms.

Have you been in one recently? The flagship store here sells some Nikon and Canon but 95% of the floorspace is Sony. Why do you expect them to sell all makes? If there was a profit to be made from them selling Pentax then I'm sure they would.

There may be special arrangements in place as well that support the stock levels in the stores. Not every manufacturer will be able to reach a suitable agreement with a retailer.

All retail organisations major on particular lines. If they tried to do everything then it would become unmanageable.

A retailer needs a certain amount of intelligence to know what products can and can't make a profit.

Companies that got as large as Jessops must have had a good ideal of intelligence at the begnning and for a certain while, but then the momentum from their sheer size can allow them to drift on despite making a series of stupid decisions or non decisions. Look what happened to Woolworths, for instance.

I do expect them to sell all makes of dSLR because there aren't all that many of them. Choice is good for the customer, so good for the retailer in turn.

I appreciate that Pentax may share some of the blame, though, if they haven't been prepared to do good deals with the retailers.

I don't disagree with the principle behind what you are saying, but I think few people appreciate how rocky the road ahead is going to be, or indeed, how hard it already is for many businesses.

G

Jessops don't 'do' Pentax......

...Although they can allegedly "get one if anyone was interested" (Romford branch yesterday)

.....Anyway there are "much better cameras than Pentax at cheaper prices" (Cambridge branch two weeks ago)

......And, "I think we might have one somewhere but not too sure where, normally they are order only" (Chelmsford branch last week)

On that basis there's not much point fretting too much about Jessops.

Not much point in waiting for the closing down sale then, unless you want a top of the range canikony that is.

Let me see, now when did I last buy a camera from Jessops? Let me think, Oh, I have it - I haven't!

A memory card, photo album, even photo paper, possibly a lens (but that was 20 years ago) but never a camera.

However, a high street without Jessops would be a shame for all photography enthusiasts. However, I do wish that someone would tell them that Pentax cameras are really good and there their lenses (for any Jessops staff reading this, that is the 'business' end of the camera, the bit that gets the image that is) are very good too and cheaper than Nikon and Canon.

They probably know that but Sony are giving away massive kick-backs right now and Jessops sell what they get the best deal on. Pentax wanted to sell through Jessops but could not afford to. Sony seem content to flood the market at a loss, which used to be illegal when I were a lad!

At the risk of being unpopular, I feel the need to speak out against the general 'Jessops bashing' on this site.

There are two main camera shops here in Derby, located fairly close to each other. When I wanted to buy a Canon A650 in October, I first went to Jacobs, who don't stock it. I bought one from Jessops, having been given attentive and unhurried service.

At the same time, I expressed my desire to buy a DSLR later in the year, and mentioned the Pentax K200 and the Canon 450D. The manager who served me, told me the Pentax was in stock but kept under the counter. Consumer demand, he said, accounted for the display of Canon and Panasonic cameras, and yes - the largest cabinet was full of Sony equipment.

He said he would be happy for me to handle both the Canon and the Pentax, to help me make up my mind.

Since that time, I stumbled across this Pentax User Site, and decided to buy a K200 from SRS Microsystems, after reading favourable comments about them.

I have recently purchased binoculars at Jessops, at a very reasonable price, and last week bought a LowePro Fastpack 250 there for £48.73, which I thought was an excellent price.

I shall be sorry if Jessops fall by the wayside, they do serve a useful purpose for people like me, who need advice and reassurance. Their 30 day exchange policy is pretty good too, in my opinion.

Living in Canada, in the late 1980's I went Jessops as I was a reader of "Practical Photography" and always saw their ads. I went to one in London can't remember where but the staff was pleasant and got a good deal on EXTENSION TUBES the only think which surprised me was the service charge they charged on claiming VAT back as it was almost the whole discount.

While the other merchants I dealt with on that trip where K-SHOES which i don't if still is over in ENGLAND charged me nothing but I had to mail in the form, but the best one was Harold's as offered me to pay in Canadian dollars thus saving the handling fee at my end and also their VAT back charge was nothing and they enclosed an SAE and thus where best thus if I still had my old great income I would always go to HAROLDS because of this.