Brick and Mortar Follies

[wogears]

<p>Today I went to The Camera Shop in Bryn Mawr PA, to look at a Fuji X-E1, which was in stock according to their site. It was indeed in stock, only there was no display model. Leica M9, yes. Fuji X-series, no. Manager said, very politely, that they did not have displays for everything. Looked to me as though they did for everything else. What is the use of a real store, if it isn't real?</p>

<p>Just to advise--I would have bought the camera <em>there</em> if I had liked it. I was looking to try, not to fondle. No more rant; it just annoyed hell out of me.</p>

[richard__]

<p>Years ago when the D200 first came out, I went to the local camera store to see what it was like.</p>

<p>While they had them in stock in a box, they refused to show it to me unless I bought it first. Apparently they are worried you will buy it later on the internet at a better price.</p>

<p>Since I wasn't going to buy one without handling it, I never bought one. I'd likely just use the internet to order one now and send it back if it wasn't what I expected.</p>

<p>The last camera I bought, the local store told me I couldn't return it because it was a 'special order'. Actually it wasn't, but they couldn't understand they had ordered it themselves. There appears to be no point in buying anything local that I don't already know about or want, especially when there is still a difference in pricing to be had online with better service.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Occasionally I visit one of the local shops. If they don't already have a demo model I usually insist that they don't bother to open a new boxed item unless I'm seriously shopping. If it's just idle curiosity I don't want them to risk losing a sale to a serious buyer who might prefer a genuinely new, unopened and unfondled camera or lens.</p>

<p>Usually the folks at the store open them anyway. That's why I try to buy from them whenever practical. Some of my best used manual focus lenses were bought from a couple of favorite local shops. And I never leave without buying at least a little something, if only a few goodies from the bargain bins. I still have a completely unnecessary packet of Kodak powdered fixer with hardener from one such visit - I think it was when I tried the then-new Nikon D90, which they unboxed for me. Usually I prefer Ilford rapid fixer. Maybe it's not completely unnecessary now that I've found some rolls of Efke, Fomapan and other Euro films that might benefit from hardening fixer.</p>

[norfolk_nsfw_maybee]

<p>I was at our store Thursday to buy a SB-700 flash. They had the SB-700 and the SB-910 with batteries and I handled both units.<br>

I handled/compared the D7000 (I have one I purchased there) and the D600. They had the D800 in a box and asked if I would like them to unpack it. I declined.<br>

I was able to compare the view of the 2 cameras, identical to me, they both had 24-70 lens.<br>

Due to the comparison, I concluded I do not want a D600.<br>

Come on down to Roanoke if you want to fondle!</p>

[c_watson1]

<p>Authorized dealers for many camera lines in Canada are covered for demo bodies and lenses with allowances, buy-backs, or open box/demo discount programs, especially if they're selling a reasonable volume. It's in no one's interest to have customers stare at sealed boxes.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>I went to my local store today - its nice to be back in an area that has a real photography store that I can get to in less than 10 minutes. Needed a mono-pod to replace my current somewhat damaged unit, and while I was there asked if they had a particular lens. They did, and insisted on taking it out of the box and putting it on a camera body. I wasn't buying today, and told them that, but they didn't seem to mind. When I got home I googled the lens (and the camera body they hooked it to - that may have turned out to be a nice bit of customer marketing on their side) and found that it is within $100 of the internet price, so when I do get to the point of wanting it I'll definitely head back to the store.</p>

[wogears]

<p>I used to work for Ritz Camera, a company that deserved at least some of its bad reputation. I would unbox cameras and lenses all the time for customers. It was just good service. I wouldn't let them machine-gun the shutters, but otherwise I was happy to let them hold it, show them the menus, etc.</p>

<p>It's really a shame, because The Camera Shop is one of the last old-style stores in the area. Maybe the manager's girlfriend dumped him yesterday?</p>

[wogears]

<p>Just received a very nice email from the manager of the store--I will have an actual demo body to look at there in the very near future. </p>

[steve_torelli]

<p>Recently bought a D600 from a local Nikon dealer here in Memphis, Memphis Photo Supply. Haven't purchased from a B&M store since my Pentax film days. Coming from Canon I had no Nikon glass until the 85 1.8G he ordered for me came in. He offered to sell me a 50mm 1.8D and take it back in trade when my lens arrived. He gave me what I paid for it despite my protest, it is after all, now a used lens.<br>

That kind of service and the good conversation with knowledgeable people will keep me coming back.</p>

[cyanatic]

<blockquote>

<p>It's too bad that Amazon caved to Jerry Brown.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Barry, I somehow missed this and didn't know what you were referring to. Came across the item below, but it is apparently outdated. Still, it is irksome for States (which often spend profligately and get into financial jams that was no fault of the taxpayers) to want to get their "piece" of the action in almost any enterprise imaginable. I lived in California for over 30 years and moved to Illinois in 2008. And I thought California was bad! Whenever I make an online purchase that the state of Illinois gets no tax from, I celebrate. Not that this has anything to do with the topic of this thread.... </p>

 

<blockquote>

<p><em>Very </em>short version of the Amazon tax controversy: online retailers don’t have to collect sales tax for a state unless they have a physical presence in the state (thanks to a Supreme Court decision). Various state governments (typically Democratic-controlled ones), usually at the instigation of big-box brick-and-mortar retailers who hate the idea that online retailers might do to them what the big-boxes did to small brick-and-mortar retailers*, have decided to get around this by defining an in-state affiliate of an online retailer as being that retailer’s physical presence in the state. When this becomes a state law, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F%23&tag=webloglicenti-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Amazon.com</a> responds by immediately terminating its affiliate program in that state, thus neatly eliminating its obligation to collect sales tax**. The last iteration of this <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0701/California-Amazon-tax-kicks-in-and-local-businesses-could-be-losers">happened in California</a>, where Amazon.com simply dropped roughly 25,000 affiliates without even breaking stride.</p>

</blockquote>

[JDMvW]

<blockquote>

<p>Whenever I make an online purchase that the state of Illinois gets no tax from, I celebrate.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's worse than you think. You're supposed to pay a <a href="http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/illinois-internet-sales-tax.html">tax</a> for these purchases to Illinois. Of course, it's possible that some people ignore this. One court has found the law unconstitutional (<a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-26/business/ct-biz-0426-tax-ruling-20120426_1_affiliate-marketers-main-street-fairness-act-rebecca-madigan">link</a>).</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>It's too bad that Amazon caved to Jerry Brown.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

This is nonsense. Brown actually negotiated a deal that involved Amazon bringing jobs and commerce to California in exchange for collecting sales tax. <br>

<br>

However, long before Jerry Brown became governor, there was use tax. This required consumers to pay taxes on out of state purchases. If consumers hadn't so willingly committed tax fraud for so many internet purchases, there would probably not have been a deal between Amazon and California.</p>

[norfolk_nsfw_maybee]

<blockquote>

<p>This required consumers to pay taxes on out of state purchases</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I live in Virginia. We bought $10,000 of furniture out of state in the 1980's (stupid DINK newly weds! LOL). Virginia researched our purchase and sent us a bill for the tax!</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>I've long since felt that I get better advice, better stockholding, better opportunity to handle (within limits) and understand what I'm buying, by buying remotely after online research than I do buying from a camera store. I don't need to pay delivery- Amazon will generally get me anything I buy post free in less than 24 hours and they aren't alone.</p>

<p>The sort of experience the OP had here makes me despair . Don't these guys realise that they have to be better at something, otherwise its all going to collapse around them ( and certainly here in the UK is doing so). If these guys don't see everyone who walks through their door as an opportunity - even if their initial intention is only to browse, its an opportunity to change their mind- then what hope can there be and indeed what hope do they deserve? What do retailers want- maybe that if people are going to buy remotely then do so without involving them at all? </p>

<p>I recall exactly two outstanding photographic retail experiences in the last fifteen years, and both of those were at B&H. Every other example of beating my expectations has come from a distance seller.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>I am pretty sure that is not the case. I don't see cause there.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

The state didn't get the money from people that the law requires. BTW, most states have use tax, it's just not enforced. Eventually they will do what California did.<br>

</p>

<blockquote>

<p>What does California do for a Californian, that Oregon doesn't do for a Oregonian(insert any sales-tax-less state) with that 10% of everything they buy?</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

Oregon has insanely high property tax compared to California. There is no way around taxes unless you cancel all the services.</p>