Jessops to close 17 stores

Much has been discussed on here regarding Jessops, now the chickens are coming home to roost,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7893176.stm

Yea watched it I wasn't surprised given the publicity they've had.

The only surprise to me is that they are keeping some stores open!

Wow I wasn't aware they were that big. A shame really when a large chain like that goes under But its a sign of the times I guess.

Do you think they will franchaise the ones that will remain open. I'm sure someone can make a go of it.

Just to give you an idea. In January this year it was reported they had 230 stores

I don't think it's a shame if a camera chain that doesn't stock Pentax goes under

The three Glasgow stores that are to close never, ever sold anything much anyway. Two of them are single shop units and I walked by one yesterday. 6 Lowepro bags, a selection of accessories like mini tripods and blower brushes, a handful of point and shoots and a 1 hour photo machine. That was it. Nothing there that you couldn't get in a supermarket etc so I'm not surprised they are closing. The leases were probably up anyway.

Jessops have been on the decline ever since the Jessops family sold out, the people now "running": it have no idea about photography and how to market it, as it was said before they are "box shifters" nothing more than that.
If or when they do depart the high street, it will leave an opening for people like SRS to take up the challenge and be able to give the customer what he wants not what Jessops are pushing, sell any thing to make a profit .

Back at the end of 2007 they closed over 80 stores and since then odd ones and twos have been disappearing.

At one time I believe they had 350 or so ...

They expanded far too fast, same old story. Now they are paying the price in a market that has serious problems.

Well, much as I disklike Jessops as a shopping experience, they do sell a lot of gear, and people do use them. Anything that gets more people into photography is a good thing in my book!

The stores closing represent 3% of their turnover and were unprofitable according to their press release, so I guess they're doing what any responsible business does in hard times and looks after things long term to keep as many people in jobs as possible.

I would feel for those who will lose their jobs should the whole thing collapse...

Feel sorry for the people losing their jobs, especially when the CEO who only joined last May has received a &500K BONUS.....for what?

The problem up here in Scotland is we dont appear to have any decent photography shops left. (Not that Jessops was decent)

I dont know about Aberdeen but in Glasgow we have Calumet but they aren't a High St brand. Until last year we had a fantastic Jessops 'pro' shop staffed by knowledgable photography graduates who actually showed their own work in the shop.

In all the discussions we've had here about Jessops, I dont think we've ever thought much about one of the main reasons for, not just their imminent demise, but a lot of the changes to the conventional photographic market.

There are more cameras being sold now than at any other period in history; they come as part of a mobile phone.

Very many young people are using photography in a different way and have no need for the conventional photo shop. My new Samsung phone has an exceptional, feature rich camera, there would be no need to go out and buy a separate camera if I just wanted to upload snaps to Bebo.

Look what happened in the music industry.

We had a Calumet, but it closed. We currently have two Jessops, but it isn't obvious why - they're a short walk from each other and stock pretty much the same things.

Robert.

what phone have you got gartmore? I've never yet seen a result from a camera phone which I would upload to facebook much less print, if someone has managed to build one which works as both a passable camera and a phone I'll try and get one next time I get an upgrade.