12 replies to this topic

[Dave Rosser]

The administrator has decided to pull the plug on Jessops and take it off life support. See http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-20992125 for more details. Very sad news for all the employees. It will leave Bristol with only three Camera stores - 2 London Camera Exchanges and Bristol Cameras.

[wildoat]

Unfortunately my local branch of Jessops had been maintaining an almost pitiful
existence for a considerable time, it appeared as if the company could not afford to
maintain decent stock levels, the appearance of the store was generally very poor.

The staff seemed resigned to the fact their days were numbered and this was evident
by their attitude towards their jobs and toward customers.

I'm not surprised at all by what has since happened.

[Anthony]

Very sorry to lose Jessops. I bought quite a lot of kit from them. They had a system where I could order online at prices competitive with Amazon, and pick up in a Central London store a couple of hours later. They also printed a very nice calendar for me.

[Dallas]

We have experienced a similar situation here in SA with the demise of the traditional camera store. Most of them have closed down in my town and the one or two good ones that remain are hanging on by a thread.

I don't think it will be too long before we see independent online retail falling away to manufacturer controlled online retail and shipping in the future. This gives me a good idea for next week's editorial column.

[davepaterson]

I'm sorry Jessop's is folding because it will leave many small / medium towns without any camera shop. The downside of big national outfits like Jessop's is that in getting established, they put many other individually-run stores out of business; so when the big chain goes t*ts up, there's nothing left.

[PatrickO]

This is worth a rant

My local dealer is doing well. They are not a chain store, do not have the massive corporate overhead, do not have shareholders to appease, and give personal attention. I know that I can buy perhaps up to 10% cheaper elsewhere, but don't. On some items like big ticket lenses they are very competitive. They know me by name (and so they should given the collection in the spare room ), and will often give a discount. They carry a limited range of premium brands (I'm itching for their Hasselblad digital back and that Leica S2 in the window is... ), and don't sell cheap tat made by ten year olds in dark factories.

Too many chain stores have priced themselves down to the bottom, are run by bean counters with no concern for the market, and staffed by people on minimum wage and no incentive to think or do better. One can only wonder when the corporate drive for a few sociopathic individuals to get rich and fawned over by politicians will end. Apparently Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley meant very little in the grand scheme of things.

<rant over>

Edited by PatrickO, 11 January 2013 - 22:24 .

[Bart Willems]

Patrick, I fully agree with you. There is a large, independent camera store halfway between work and home (oooh the horror) and they seem to be doing quite well. The owner of the store seems to understand quite well that selling is a matter of making sure that the value of what you offer is more than the price that you're asking.
The easy way to deal with this equation is by lowering your prices and that's nearly never sustainable. The hard way is to offer actual value to your customers and that's what this shop is doing. Don't get me wrong, their prices aren't wrong either but they work very hard to satisfy the customers and it seems to pay off.

I think that, ironically, the future is to independent stores that are ran by their owners, not by managers who have to meet targets that force them to aim for short term goals, not long term goals. Circuit City, Jessops, Best Buy... one after another, they'll all go.

[lenmil]

Sad news. I bought most of my Olympus OM system from them. They were very good with the service , but that was years ago. Things have changed a lot.

[Mike G]

I bought my D700 from my local branch of Jessops, their demise leaves my part of West London, Uxbridge without a photographic dealer except the pathetic Curry's, oh dear

[Ann]

I don't think that there is a photographic retailer within 50 miles of me any longer. The last independent one sold out to RitzCamera who then got themselves into financial difficulties and closed most, if not all, of their bricks-and-mortar stores.

I now buy only on-line and usually from B&H.

Small photographic items and general domestic goods are OK from Amazon but I prefer to buy cameras and lenses from specialist dealers.

[Fred Nirque]

As people get more and more used to avoiding traffic snarls and wasted time by simply buying online in a few minutes and receiving the goods a couple of days later, unless a bricks and mortar store has the finances to set up and maintain an efficient online trading facility, then the way of Jessops is unfortunately the route most will be taking.

For people such as myself who live in a rural area of a small and under-serviced state in a country with a small and under-serviced population, online shopping has been a revelation. We can now be equipped just as well as anyone else in the world (although there is still a problem with warranties and with overseas manufacturer-accredited dealers supplying new stuff to overseas markets), and particularly at the moment when our currency is at record high exchange rate levels we can do this at a favourable cost, even accounting for postage.

Unfortunately our technology primitive government has finally tumbled to this hugely expanding international trading and is scurrying around trying to find a way to tax these transactions, so the current utopia might soon come to an end, but for the moment it's a most enlightening and enjoyable experience. While it is an unpleasant thing to hear of institutional establishments closing their doors and people losing their jobs, as any photographer who started in pre-digital film days will appreciate when change comes it's best to embrace it as best one can, because it becomes very much a sink-or-swim situation.

On another note, and having almost fallen victim to a scammer (in another matter, involving a new guitar), I will only buy online from a specialist camera dealer such as KEH, B&H and Adorama when it comes to photographic gear, and after my near-miss I will only buy other stuff online via a PayPal account. No PayPal facility, no sale. Given that almost-scammed experience, I realize that PayPal are conscientious with who they supply their facility to, and should an online dealer breach their conditions, they do appear to blacklist that person in perpetuity whereas the banks appear to not be so choosy as to who they give merchant facilities to as far as their credit cards are concerned.

[Mike G]

I agree Anne it is now a probability of mail order, luckily the UK is well served with reputable online dealers. But it don't beat a bit of hands on inspection and fiddling.

[Anthony]

No PayPal facility, no sale. Given that almost-scammed experience, I realize that PayPal are conscientious with who they supply their facility to, and should an online dealer breach their conditions, they do appear to blacklist that person in perpetuity whereas the banks appear to not be so choosy as to who they give merchant facilities to as far as their credit cards are concerned.

In the UK the credit card company is legally liable if the supplier defaults.