Some news from Watford!

Hi everyone,

Well, we've gone and done it! We are on the move to a bigger shop which, conveniently, is next door to our current premises. The shop fit is starting tomorrow and will take 2-3 weeks to complete. We will be trading from our current unit until the new one is finished, so there will be no disruption of trade.

The new unit is twice the size and will allow us to display many more items and allow us to stock a much greater range of accessories such as tripods, bags and studio lighting equipment.

We also have a large basement area which will serve several functions. We will be setting up a studio which we will be hiring out and using ourselves. This area will also be used for Open Days / Evenings and various other events. We will also be offering lens hire for both Pentax and Olympus.

There will be a large dedicated Pentax area in the shop, with the full range of cameras, lenses, binoculars, spotting scopes and accessories available to play with.

There will be a launch event with prizes... Anyone fancy a K-7??!!

I will update when I have more news about opening events!

Chris

Congratulations! I am sure that there are many people on this site who will be wishing you all the best, and looking forward to visiting the new shop.

Good luck,
The idea of a Pentax lens hire sounds great.
Are you increasing your Brand range?

Davex.

Thanks chaps!

We will be stocking a wider range of brands..

Must put you in a curious position; as the sponsor of Pentax User how will you square this at the shop when you reccomend Canon and Nikon equipment in preference to Pentax, presumably you will have to do this to justify the expansion:

Davex.

Is it at all possible, in some cases, for certain people, that another brand might be preferable to Pentax? After all, we're not talking religion. I'm hoping I won't be excommunicated now!

Chris, glad to see that business is doing well. However, I still think you could have opened a shop in West Yorks. I never get to watford to play with gear..and there is no one else nearby with the wide range you stock

Dave

Chris - you are my saviour - Pentax lens hire!

That is simply fantastic news.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not what the beholder holds to his eye. Good luck to Chris, these are difficult trading times and if he has to expand the range to make his business more viable to enable him to sell Pentax then good for him. We need to buy kit from somewhere and I doubt SRS would survive long with only one or two marques.

Cedric

We have always stocked other brands as we believe in giving a choice. If someone comes in wanting a new digital camera body clutching a bag full of Nikon/Canon/Olympus lenses they are not always going to buy a Pentax camera.

Pentax is a major part of the business and will have a large area in the new shop which will allow us to stock even more Pentax items that can be played with. We already stock and sell more Pentax product than anyone else in the UK and by doing this we can do more!

Chris

Awesome Chris, CONGRATULATIONS!

Will surely be there for the launch.. and i'm pre-booking the studio as well...

Good luck for all the hard work coming up
Nathan

As I am a West Yorkshire lad, never say never!

Totally agree with you - Pentax are'nt a brand perfect for everyone - but knowing SRS as well all do; I guarantee the customer will come away with exactly what they need, Pentax or no Pentax. You could'nt say that in regard to Jessops! At least there's a great degree of choice for consumers.

And besides, if this is what SRS need to do to keep in business, who on earth are we to make a grumble?

Well done Chris and team and good luck with the expansion. I look forward to visiting the new store.

Congratulations on expanding the business!