Camera Sales

I frequent a local camera store where they have a salesman who has been a photographer for more than 30 years, who worked as a photographer in almost all aspects of photography and who is a lot of fun to talk to. He does not own the store and the store owner knows the difference between F stop and shutter speed but not much else. He does, however hire photographers as slaesmen and the latest guy is pretty good. Oh, yes, they also carry all the little gadget stuff I end up wanting, or perhaps needing from time to time, lens hoods, batteries, chargers, lens cleaning tissue etc. etc.

Lets look at his competition.

Costco and Best Buy to name only two .

As far back as a year ago, Costco carried entry level cameras. Best Buy carried entry level and one level up. At Christmas time there was no way the local shop was going to be able to compete with the pricing offered, on, for example, the Nikon D40.

Look at the shelves at Costco and you will find Nokon D60 kits, D90 kits and comparable Canon gear too. How about Best Buy-today you wil find Canon 5D's on display with the 24-105 lens in a kit with a reminder from the sales guy(an 18 year old) that the 5DII will be in very soon, They also have the D700 with the 24-120 mm VR lens as a kit.

My point is that the fundamental nature of photography is rapidly changeing and it is now a big enough business that the big merchandisers are moving into the territory in a big way. The prices being offered by the big chain stores, and I menioned only two when there are at least 5 within 3 miles of me are below what my local camera shop offers and I don't see how he will be able to stay in business. Moreover, each weekend a different camera is offered on sale from each store, (never by the way the same camera from different stores and I suspect this is not an accident)and those prices are often remarkably low.

This is not necessarily a bad thing but it will be different. The guy who got a D40 for Christmas last year now realizes he cannot expand his camera lenses very much and probably understands that his lens selection is pretty limited and he is at least looking at a move up. After all, his daughter loves to shoot with his D40 and he plans to give it to her for Xmas (From an actual conversation I had with a Best Buy customer who was asking questions the store employee didn't have a clue about).

I am neither complaining nor am I unhappy about the situation. I am only trying to keep myself anchored in today rather than what was.

The camera companies themselves are doing this though, not Best Buy or Costco. The camera companies realize that the market is shrinking and they need to have their product seen if it is to be sold. So, it's no surprise that Costco or Best Buy have more than entry-level SLRs these days. I believe that Canon and Nikon actually force bundles on these companies (i.e. if you want to carry the Canon 50D, you have to also sell the 5DII or if you want to sell the heavily advertised D60, you have to also stock some D90 bodies).

And just a year or so ago, before the big economic downturn, there was probably enough affluence to justify this. I'm not so sure that's the case now.

Realistically, for those people who buy on price alone, the biggest threat to the local camera store is the Internet. I know that every digital body I have ever bought, with the exception of the original S1 Pro, was purchased through an Internet company. If your local camera store can survive Internet competition, I suspect it can also survive Best Buy and Costco. Like you, if I need a specific item and need it quickly, I go to the local speciality store, which does not lack for business.

Anthony

--
check out my blog at http://anthonyonphotography.blogspot.com

Agreed, the best price is from the internet.

However, the specials from the big guys end up better than or at least equal to the internet.

I am waiting for Best Buy to run a special on the D700-lol.

Anthony32599 said:

If your local camera store can survive Internet competition, I suspect it can also > survive Best Buy and Costco.

Click to expand...

I thought about this over coffee this morning and I have a different take.

20-10 years ago high end cameras were a speciality item. They were being sold by photography stores by photography experts and if the spedific person selling to you was not an expert on that specific camera, then there certainly was an expert close by who could answer the questions that your sales guy didn't know the answer to.

The big chain stores have also carried cameras through this period and they have sold them with clerical help who knew nothing at all about cameras but they were able to find the correct price and take your money for the item. A while back these chain stores were Sears, Wall Mart and K-mart. Newer, more specialized stores have sprung up now and we have the Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max, Costco, Staples and on and on.

I think the point is that digital camera sales have grown so much that they now represent a major share of the total dollars the consumer is going to spend in a year. Ten years ago my wife would get another $200 point and shoot film camera every 4 or so years. The oldest kid inherited the old point and shoot and both cameras continued to make great prints for many years. The older model invarriably had less zoom range and focused more slowly but both worked and when framed similarly and set to the same aperture, produced images that were essentially identical.

The digital age has brought about a rebirth in photography. The photographic learning curve has been dramatically reduced. Because of the instant feedback the LCD provides and the fact that it does not cost any more to shoot 20 shots than it does to shoot one, the John Q Public consumer is rapidly learning how to take better and better photographs. Moreover, starting last Christmas, the price point for a genuinely good DSLR, the D40, fell to less than the high end point and shoot and substantially more and more people are showing up at events armed with DSLR's. At one of my most recent weddings, shot high on the top of the Sierras near a lake, there were no less than 25 DSLR's and 4 of them had been purchased just to take photos of "Dear Sweet What's Her Name", who's finally getting married.

What I am saying is that photography now represents an entirely new category of sales and those sales are both substantial and the consumer of this category is on a rapid learning curve about what they want as well as about what the can do with what they already have. Of course at the present time we are facing an economic crunch and sales of everything everywhere are way off but the digital technology wheel has not stopped turning and things that went into development two to three years ago are just now coming to market.

It is just remarkable to me to see a $3600 D700 camera and lens sitting on a post with an electronic anti theft interlock on it, that camera is sitting there next to the point and shoot cameras, and anyone and everyone is invited to pick up the camera and give it a try.

I am accustomed to having the sales guy grudgeingly take the high end camera out of the box and let me handle it gently and carefully. At Best Buy I saw four teen agers shoot picutres of each other , laughing about the experience and one of them putting his fingers on the lens surface. Moreover, I ended up talking to the camera area manager, a very intelligent and highly motivated but relatively uneducated 18 year old, who told me that Best Buy has decided to double the size of their camera sales operation and they will be carrying a lot more brands, more accessories and more lenses. For example, the Sony alpha-900 is apparently headed there.

So, since Home Depot and Lows drove the local Ma and Pa hardware store out of business I expect our local camera store to also pass into history. I hope they don't but am I willing to pay them $100 to $200 extra to keep them in business?

Probably not even though when I want the speciality item I go there.

Walter,

I get to shop in a local camera store in my town of around 50,000 souls. That is getting to be a rare thing to do. I have been supportive with new cameras and new lenses and other items. They do give a "professional" discount which is better than the lack of discount for brand new products at even the online dealers when the product is fresh on the market. After a while the online discounters beat their price by a fair amount. Then you have to decide if you want to pay a premium to keep the local walk in store in business or not. Car dealers add this to their sticker as ADP or Market Adjustment Price.

The owner of the local store was pretty excited to hear the Best Buy across town would be handling the D700 since that would mean he, too, would be able to order them from Nikon for his store as well. He is too small to get the D2 or D3 bodies from Nikon so the D700 will be the first FX Nikon he will be able to carry. Just because he can carry it does not mean it will be in stock. I waited nearly 3 months for Nikon to clear his back order for an SB800 flash when I could have driven to the Best Buy and found 4 in stock during that time. I cannot say Nikon takes care of their low volume retailers very well. Canon does far better by the retailer with no restrictions on the cameras he can order, better shipment of what he orders and better service from the Canon reps when the regularly visit.

I will try to avoid the Best Buy shopping experience as long as possible, though.
--
Alan, in Montana
Photos are cached here,

http://radphotos.net/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=33&place=gallery&cat=10069

I bought my very first Nikon in Sacramento. I called all around and this place, McCurry's maybe? had the best price. A brand new Nikon F2AS for $500, with tax $530 out the door. Wow, what a bargain.
--
Dennis
http://dennislee.smugmug.com/gallery/2516942

Walter S Matthews said:

Walter S Matthews said:

If your local camera store can survive Internet competition, I suspect it can also > survive Best Buy and Costco.

Click to expand...

I thought about this over coffee this morning and I have a different
take.

20-10 years ago high end cameras were a speciality item. They were
being sold by photography stores by photography experts and if the
spedific person selling to you was not an expert on that specific
camera, then there certainly was an expert close by who could answer
the questions that your sales guy didn't know the answer to.

The big chain stores have also carried cameras through this period
and they have sold them with clerical help who knew nothing at all
about cameras but they were able to find the correct price and take
your money for the item. A while back these chain stores were Sears,
Wall Mart and K-mart. Newer, more specialized stores have sprung up
now and we have the Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max, Costco,
Staples and on and on.

I think the point is that digital camera sales have grown so much
that they now represent a major share of the total dollars the
consumer is going to spend in a year. Ten years ago my wife would
get another $200 point and shoot film camera every 4 or so years. The
oldest kid inherited the old point and shoot and both cameras
continued to make great prints for many years. The older model
invarriably had less zoom range and focused more slowly but both
worked and when framed similarly and set to the same aperture,
produced images that were essentially identical.

The digital age has brought about a rebirth in photography. The
photographic learning curve has been dramatically reduced. Because of
the instant feedback the LCD provides and the fact that it does not
cost any more to shoot 20 shots than it does to shoot one, the John Q
Public consumer is rapidly learning how to take better and better
photographs. Moreover, starting last Christmas, the price point for a
genuinely good DSLR, the D40, fell to less than the high end point
and shoot and substantially more and more people are showing up at
events armed with DSLR's. At one of my most recent weddings, shot
high on the top of the Sierras near a lake, there were no less than
25 DSLR's and 4 of them had been purchased just to take photos of
"Dear Sweet What's Her Name", who's finally getting married.

What I am saying is that photography now represents an entirely new
category of sales and those sales are both substantial and the
consumer of this category is on a rapid learning curve about what
they want as well as about what the can do with what they already
have. Of course at the present time we are facing an economic crunch
and sales of everything everywhere are way off but the digital
technology wheel has not stopped turning and things that went into
development two to three years ago are just now coming to market.

It is just remarkable to me to see a $3600 D700 camera and lens
sitting on a post with an electronic anti theft interlock on it, that
camera is sitting there next to the point and shoot cameras, and
anyone and everyone is invited to pick up the camera and give it a
try.

Click to expand...

Yes it is . And its in Europe more or less the same. Media Markt its a large chain Store across Europe wich has the most horrible customer service i ever seen; but they sold me a D70 wich was the best camera in shelves at that time, now they carry D700 and everyone can give it a try, along with D300, 5D,50D,Olys, Pentax, etc. good priced items, D60 18-55 & 50-200 VR for 770 swiss francs......thats a 1/4 of minimum monthly salary roughly.

This days, most of warrantys can be claimed directly with the producer and not with the store, this horrible customer service can be avoid it.

we buy not special items any longer ,now photography devices are mass marketed devices like a flashlight.

Walter S Matthews said:

I am accustomed to having the sales guy grudgeingly take the high end
camera out of the box and let me handle it gently and carefully. At
Best Buy I saw four teen agers shoot picutres of each other ,
laughing about the experience and one of them putting his fingers on
the lens surface. Moreover, I ended up talking to the camera area
manager, a very intelligent and highly motivated but relatively
uneducated 18 year old, who told me that Best Buy has decided to
double the size of their camera sales operation and they will be
carrying a lot more brands, more accessories and more lenses. For
example, the Sony alpha-900 is apparently headed there.

So, since Home Depot and Lows drove the local Ma and Pa hardware
store out of business I expect our local camera store to also pass
into history. I hope they don't but am I willing to pay them $100 to
$200 extra to keep them in business?

Probably not even though when I want the speciality item I go there.

Click to expand...

FlossTycoon said:

The owner of the local store was pretty excited to hear the Best Buy
across town would be handling the D700 since that would mean he, too,
would be able to order them from Nikon for his store as well. He is
too small to get the D2 or D3 bodies from Nikon so the D700 will be
the first FX Nikon he will be able to carry.

Click to expand...

I think Nikon is completely out of their mind by restricting the sales of their cameras mainly to big chains. It is different in Euroope, they tend to care for brand awareness.

I am a store holder who sells about 3 cameras yearly, so I can hardly imagine anyone smaller.(It has been, but is not my core business any more, you will probably understand). If I want to order any camera, everyone is glad I order one and I usually will receive it the next day. It always is useful for their brand awareness, how small the order might be. A few weeks ago I ordered the -excellent- 18-105 lens on Monday and I received it on Tuesday.

FlossTycoon said:

I will try to avoid the Best Buy shopping experience as long as
possible, though.

Click to expand...

I do fully understand your motivation. I agree.

Leen Koper
http://www.fotografieleenkoper.nl

Walter S Matthews said:

I frequent a local camera store where they have a salesman who has
been a photographer for more than 30 years, who worked as a
photographer in almost all aspects of photography and who is a lot of
fun to talk to. He does not own the store and the store owner knows
the difference between F stop and shutter speed but not much else. He
does, however hire photographers as slaesmen and the latest guy is
pretty good.

Click to expand...

We've always had folks like that...

Walter S Matthews said:

Oh, yes, they also carry all the little gadget stuff I
end up wanting, or perhaps needing from time to time, lens hoods,
batteries, chargers, lens cleaning tissue etc. etc.

Lets look at his competition.

Costco and Best Buy to name only two .

As far back as a year ago, Costco carried entry level cameras. Best
Buy carried entry level and one level up. At Christmas time there was
no way the local shop was going to be able to compete with the
pricing offered, on, for example, the Nikon D40.

Look at the shelves at Costco and you will find Nokon D60 kits, D90
kits and comparable Canon gear too. How about Best Buy-today you wil
find Canon 5D's on display with the 24-105 lens in a kit with a
reminder from the sales guy(an 18 year old) that the 5DII will be in
very soon, They also have the D700 with the 24-120 mm VR lens as a
kit.

My point is that the fundamental nature of photography is rapidly
changeing and it is now a big enough business that the big
merchandisers are moving into the territory in a big way.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how I remember it, thinking back to about 1974...

The department stores like Hudsons, J. C. Pennys, Crowleys, A. J. Folands, etc. carried an interesting mixture of cameras. Hudsons stocked Nikon, Pentax, and Konica, along with the less popular brands like Ricoh, Canon, and Vivitar. They stocked every Nikon model except the F (I think it would have been F3 at the time).

Pennys had less, but I remember in the late 70s seeing the FA, FM2, anf FG there, along with a variety of motor drives and lenses.

A. J. Folands was a huge department store, their camera department was bigger than an entire Ritz store, and better stocked, with very knowledgeable people. We had many independent camera stores: the f-Stop, the Negative Outlook, Photo-One, Century Camera, and World Camera opened up about 6 stores. Several of the stores were in new buildings shaped like cameras (although you had to fly over them to be able to see that).

Walter S Matthews said:

The prices
being offered by the big chain stores, and I menioned only two when
there are at least 5 within 3 miles of me are below what my local
camera shop offers and I don't see how he will be able to stay in
business.

Click to expand...

Same thing 33 years ago. Folands had so much better stock and lower prices, good people, and yet, the local stores thrived.

And there were always a ton of mail order sources, the camera magazines were full of them. And the camera magazines. Popular Photography, Modern Photography, Outdoor Photography, Yellow Silk, with better articles than now...

And Shutterbug, basically a huge collection of ads.

Walter S Matthews said:

Moreover, each weekend a different camera is offered on
sale from each store, (never by the way the same camera from
different stores and I suspect this is not an accident)and those
prices are often remarkably low.

This is not necessarily a bad thing but it will be different. The guy
who got a D40 for Christmas last year now realizes he cannot expand
his camera lenses very much and probably understands that his lens
selection is pretty limited and he is at least looking at a move up.
After all, his daughter loves to shoot with his D40 and he plans to
give it to her for Xmas (From an actual conversation I had with a
Best Buy customer who was asking questions the store employee didn't
have a clue about).

I am neither complaining nor am I unhappy about the situation. I am
only trying to keep myself anchored in today rather than what was.

Click to expand...

I think today is "what was", just a little different.

Yes, we've lost a lot of camera stores lately, but I think that has more to do with the recession than with the online competition.

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com

Walter S Matthews said:

I frequent a local camera store where they have a salesman who has
been a photographer for more than 30 years, who worked as a
photographer in almost all aspects of photography and who is a lot of
fun to talk to. He does not own the store and the store owner knows
the difference between F stop and shutter speed but not much else. He
does, however hire photographers as slaesmen and the latest guy is
pretty good. Oh, yes, they also carry all the little gadget stuff I
end up wanting, or perhaps needing from time to time, lens hoods,
batteries, chargers, lens cleaning tissue etc. etc.

Lets look at his competition.

Costco and Best Buy to name only two .

As far back as a year ago, Costco carried entry level cameras. Best
Buy carried entry level and one level up. At Christmas time there was
no way the local shop was going to be able to compete with the
pricing offered, on, for example, the Nikon D40.

Look at the shelves at Costco and you will find Nokon D60 kits, D90
kits and comparable Canon gear too. How about Best Buy-today you wil
find Canon 5D's on display with the 24-105 lens in a kit with a
reminder from the sales guy(an 18 year old) that the 5DII will be in
very soon, They also have the D700 with the 24-120 mm VR lens as a
kit.

My point is that the fundamental nature of photography is rapidly
changeing and it is now a big enough business that the big
merchandisers are moving into the territory in a big way. The prices
being offered by the big chain stores, and I menioned only two when
there are at least 5 within 3 miles of me are below what my local
camera shop offers and I don't see how he will be able to stay in
business.

Click to expand...

Certainly, many local camera stores have gone out of business. However, the Costco and Best Buy stores do not stock a full line of cameras. If you go to a well stocked local store, you are likely to see the full line of Nikon cameras, from the D3, D700, D300, D90 on down to the lowly D40. There will also be lenses and flashes that the Best Buy and Costco stores simply would not stock. That is one way a local camera store can stay in business: having a wider selection of products then just the most popular models and the kit lens.

Walter S Matthews said:

Moreover, each weekend a different camera is offered on
sale from each store, (never by the way the same camera from
different stores and I suspect this is not an accident)and those
prices are often remarkably low.

This is not necessarily a bad thing but it will be different. The guy
who got a D40 for Christmas last year now realizes he cannot expand
his camera lenses very much and probably understands that his lens
selection is pretty limited and he is at least looking at a move up.
After all, his daughter loves to shoot with his D40 and he plans to
give it to her for Xmas (From an actual conversation I had with a
Best Buy customer who was asking questions the store employee didn't
have a clue about).

I am neither complaining nor am I unhappy about the situation. I am
only trying to keep myself anchored in today rather than what was.

Click to expand...

By offering expertise and a wider selection of lenses and accessories, the local camera store can find a niche that the large chain stores cannot fill. However, even in this niche, there are national camera store chains like Ritz to contend with. And then there are online and mail order companies like B and H and Adorama and Amazon. All in all, the local camera store may be a dying breed.

Actually Home Club drove many local hardware stores out of business. Home Depot, in turn, drove Home Club out of business because Home Club charged an annual membership fee (much like Costco is doing) but Home Depot did not charge any membership fees. The fee wasn't much ($10 if I remember correctly) but it was enough to make a difference.

I am waiting for someone to come along and drive Costco out of business by selling stuff at the same low prices and by NOT charging an annual membership fee. LOL.

I still go to the local camera store for most things, tons of used Nikon lenses, and he special orders me Olympus gear, as for prices on older new gear the online stores willing to make little profit on the bodies win, but for brand new gear the prices are usually a bit lower than any of them.

Joseph S Wisniewski said:

That's exactly how I remember it, thinking back to about 1974...

The department stores like Hudsons, J. C. Pennys, Crowleys, A. J.
Folands, etc. carried an interesting mixture of cameras. Hudsons
stocked Nikon, Pentax, and Konica, along with the less popular brands
like Ricoh, Canon, and Vivitar. They stocked every Nikon model except
the F (I think it would have been F3 at the time).

Pennys had less, but I remember in the late 70s seeing the FA, FM2,
anf FG there, along with a variety of motor drives and lenses.

Click to expand...

J C Penny's had their own version of Minolta SRT camera, the SRT-SC and K-Mart had the SRT-MC. Kmart also sold the "Focal" brand of lenses. I couldn't afford a good 80-200mm zoom at the time, so I bought the Focal at K-mart. It was never very good - especially when combined with my 2x Vivitar teleconverter.

In 1976 I worked the Christmas holiday at LaBells - one of the first "big box" type of stores. They had an extensive camera and lens selection.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

Locally all our camera stores are gone. If we drive 13 miles east of here out onto the Cape there is a Ritz, 50 miles out is a combo art and photography store who specializes mostly in printing but had some camera gear and a repair person ( most valuable asset there!), 28miles SE is a Ritz, 16miles N is Ritz ! THe same 13miles E is Best Buy, 15 miles N Best Buy and Circuit City. This pretty much keeps repeating till you hit the Metro Boston area 55-70 miles away where there are Pro camera stores ( Levine, Hunts Calumet).

We had two camera stores, one turned into more of a specialty/novelty shop with some unusual frames and they printed or sent out large print jobs. They only sold Ricoh and Canon as I recall. Eventually they went out and a custom frame shop went in maybe two years ago now. The other shop sold Nikon Canon and Pentax, did in house printing and sold all the usual stuff a nice shop would have, like used lenses, enlargers, film stocks etc... THey went out maybe 10 years ago or more now. The repair guy from that shop was the one who the shop 50 miles away had most recently( I don't know if he is still there or not).

Anyway, in spite of all that in 1977 we bought my wifes K1000 in K Mart and her Sigma lenses she still has to this day using them on an istDS ( along with a couple of Pentax lenses) we bought at Ritz when they were on sale.

I've made many many trips to the Boston area to actually get gear in my hnads that couldn't be found locally.

I noticed yesterday that Best Buy wasn't all that badly stocked if you like Canon or want to buy into Canon ! They displayed two Nikon SLR Bodies and a few lenses but several Canon bodies and mounted and framed B+W photos shot from a Canon even hung over the Nikon display. I think they are very Canon biased. Our most recent purchase was from Amazon !

David

Just like everywhere you can find DLSRs at extremely great prices. The same thing is happening to wedding photographers. Wedding photographers are a dime a dozen. Five years ago, I was the only full time photographer, now I am one of six in a town of 6000. Two of the other photographers are women working out of their house and two of the men are retired state workers. Only one of them worked professionally as a photographer for the state crime department.

Anyway, just as camera prices are becoming deluted and cheap, so are wedding photographes.

In one of the above threads, the one of the camera shops now offers wedding albums printed and binded in one hours for less than $40 dollars. I think if I was young again I would find another way to make a living.

It's only going to get worse in the future. Today, anyone can be a professional.
Respectfully,
David Miller

Just bought my S5 from Arlington Camera (DFW Texas) and gladly paid an extra $100 over B&H. They are a highly reputable, very friendly and extremely honest store (small business) that I've had the pleasure of dealing w/for quite a few years.

--
Bob

Walter S Matthews said:

So, since Home Depot and Lows drove the local Ma and Pa hardware
store out of business I expect our local camera store to also pass
into history. I hope they don't but am I willing to pay them $100 to
$200 extra to keep them in business?

Click to expand...

I think that has already happened. I can think of three camera stores in the entire Phoenix metro area. Tempe Camera, Photomark, and Foto Forum. There is one very good collectible camera store as well. (I'm not counting Ritz Cameras Stores.) A google search turned up Wilson Camera, a group that I thought was long gone. My guess is that they are a shadow of their former selves. But I'll have to drop by and see.

I think we are the fifth largest city in the country. That's not much in the way of photo stores. I've been going to Foto Forum for decades and they are price competitive with the big box stores and give good sales assistance. Unfortunately, they have only carried Nikon and Canon DSLRs in the past. Though I think they are carrying the new Sony and I think they carry a few more brands of compacts.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

CaptD said:

I bought my very first Nikon in Sacramento. I called all around and
this place, McCurry's maybe? had the best price. A brand new Nikon
F2AS for $500, with tax $530 out the door. Wow, what a bargain.
--
Dennis
http://dennislee.smugmug.com/gallery/2516942

Click to expand...

Today you leave the store with a Nikon D700 for $2600 and that includes a gasillion rolls of film and processing. Wow, what a bargain! When you get home what once was stored in ten of those yellow or green boxes will fit into one 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 1/4 DVD package.

--
Alan, in Montana
Photos are cached here,

http://radphotos.net/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=33&place=gallery&cat=10069

here in jacksonville (jax) we had 2 photo stores brandon camera and orbens. brandon camera went out of business by trying to cover to much product and had a really bad location. but the did have selection.

orbens camera closed last december. they catered to film and resisted the digital movement. once again i had to drive half way across the city to get the, parking always sucked, they never really had what i was looking for and everything was sold at max msrp.

so far here in florida, every camera store i have gone to is always in a bad location except for ritz. and thats all we have left here in jax.
--
I didn't know you had a rock and roll record
Until I saw your picture on another guy's jacket
You told me I was the only one
But look at you now it's dark and you're gone

Jay Turberville said:

Jay Turberville said:

That's exactly how I remember it, thinking back to about 1974...

The department stores like Hudsons, J. C. Pennys, Crowleys, A. J.
Folands, etc. carried an interesting mixture of cameras. Hudsons
stocked Nikon, Pentax, and Konica, along with the less popular brands
like Ricoh, Canon, and Vivitar. They stocked every Nikon model except
the F (I think it would have been F3 at the time).

Pennys had less, but I remember in the late 70s seeing the FA, FM2,
anf FG there, along with a variety of motor drives and lenses.

Click to expand...

J C Penny's had their own version of Minolta SRT camera, the SRT-SC
and K-Mart had the SRT-MC.

Click to expand...

And Sears had their name on quite a few cameras and lenses, too.

Jay Turberville said:

Kmart also sold the "Focal" brand of lenses.

Click to expand...

I remember those.

My first 135mm was a Sears brand. As I recall, they had a two lens package, 135mm and 35mm. The 135mm was actually tolerable.

Those were the days.

Jay Turberville said:

I couldn't afford a good 80-200mm zoom at the time, so I
bought the Focal at K-mart. It was never very good - especially when
combined with my 2x Vivitar teleconverter.

Click to expand...

You were a glutton for punishment.

Jay Turberville said:

In 1976 I worked the Christmas holiday at LaBells - one of the first
"big box" type of stores. They had an extensive camera and lens
selection.

Click to expand...

Sounds a lot like Folands. They had little clip boards with order sheets, write down item numbers, and the merchandise arrived in the pickup area on a conveyor belt. Some departments just had merchandise on display (like luggage or cookware) and others were well staffed (like cameras).

--
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.

Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.

Ciao! Joseph

http://www.swissarmyfork.com