Jessops doomed (2 Viewers)

[NoSpringChicken]

7p, you must be joking !!!!

I swear it's true.

Also: "10p for a photocopy you're having a laugh. The mini market down the road was doing them for 5p." "Well, you'd be better off going there then." "I can't they're not doing it anymore."

 

[Keith Reeder]

 

[stevo]

The trouble is once these high street photography outlets go out of business then the internet retailers will put their prices up.

 

[SUPPRESSOR]

The wheel is turning full circle I remember when Frank Jessop had but 1, shop in Newarke street Leicester.I bought my first pair of Zeiss 10x40 dialyts £140 new.In those days they were selling Pentax slr's and making a fiver profit on each one.Time do change!!
fiddler.

 

[Leif]

The trouble is once these high street photography outlets go out of business then the internet retailers will put their prices up.

Jessops drove most independent photographic retailers out of business with their price matching promise. Once the cheaper independents had gone, there was no-one to price match to. Now they have to compete with online retailers who do not have the same overheads. Tough justice IMO.

 

[Leif]

The wheel is turning full circle I remember when Frank Jessop had but 1, shop in Newarke street Leicester.I bought my first pair of Zeiss 10x40 dialyts £140 new.In those days they were selling Pentax slr's and making a fiver profit on each one.Time do change!!
fiddler.

Cue the Yorkshire man sketch: "I remember when we lived in 'ole in gwound and ate dirt"

I also remember when Jessops had just the one shop, near the magazine, and queues would form that stretched round the corner and down the street.

 

[bestboat]

When I needed a bottle of Lens Cleaning Fluid recently, neither of the Jessops branches in Basingstoke had any in stock, and said that they didn't know when they would get it.
I admit that they did have their"kits", but since I already had plenty of tissues, I just needed the Fluid.
I will not be bothering them again.

 

[Vectis Birder]

Precisely... i detest all this price matching business, there should be a price and that's that. I used to be a tradesman in a previous life... you give the price that you can do the job for and that was it, no discounts or 'one week only' special offers.

So do I. I work in B&Q and we have what is called a 'price promise' where Joe or Jane Bloggs will come in and tell us that 'Charlie's DIY Store' down the road has got 'Slops Brite White Emulsion' 1p cheaper that we sell it. So, we then have to phone 'Charlie's DIY Store' (pretending to be a prospective customer) and confirm this and then give the customer the item for that price PLUS another 10 or 20% off. It's a real pain in the neck.

 

[SteveClifton]

I personally always prefer to buy from a store if possible, but sometimes regret this when you consider the poor knowledge and service you get from many staff in high street stores.

I know this thread is about Jessops, but I bought a personal cd player yesterday from Comet, and the bloke that eventually served me couldn't help with such basic questions as to the type of batteries it took etc. He had to ask a more knowledgeable colleague for 'advice' on this, and no, he wasn't a young school-leaver either! I've had many similar experiences with other high street stores, where a little basic research has armed me with more knowledge about the product than most store staff have (this often extends no further than what's printed on the card on the store shelf, which they laughably reel off in front of you!). The old truism is certainly still true, 'If you pay peanuts.....'

I genuinely think there is still a place for specialist high street stores, if the staff offer a decent service and can give good basic advice about the products they sell.

I suppose this extends to optics shops as well, where there are still several good examples of excellent dealers, with informed staff offering competitively priced products, who still manage to stay in business despite cheaper internet offerings.

I also sympathise with the staff, but the demise of Jessops is inevitable in this dog-eat-dog world, unless they do a much better job of improving their service.

 

[griffin]

Jessops will price match gen. Internet prices, or certianly used to - you just have to ask.

So, you could try out your camera/lens in the store and then haggle the price down.

 

[John Eaton]

In my opinion the national camera stores like Jessops and Jacobs will eventually go and their places taken by the likes of Comet, Currys, and PC World (which is already happening). The latter 3 have even stronger buying power and are starting to compete on price with internet companies on many lines already.
The knowledge of the staff at the big electrical retailers is cr*p, but then as many have posted it is at the afore mentioned 'specialists' already.
Even though we can get all the technical info we need from internet many of us still need to touch, feel, or demo a camera and lens before purchasing.
I do hope though that the really good independents manage to continue making a living. The one I have used over the past few years has been great, offering excellent advice, and his prices are reasonable too. I certainly don't mind paying him a few quid more.

John

 

[RJL2005]

I tried to buy my dSLR both from a local family run retailer in Cardiff to be told that basically digital was rubbish and I'd have to come back to speak to one of the owners son's (I didn't) and Jessops who couldn't answer my questions. I now use Walters Photographic who I found on the web and have shops just outside Cardiff. Good prices and service. Goes to show the Web and High Street stores can be one and the same and both exist as long as they move with the times.

Rhod

 

[SUPPRESSOR]

Cue the Yorkshire man sketch: "I remember when we lived in 'ole in gwound and ate dirt"

I also remember when Jessops had just the one shop, near the magazine, and queues would form that stretched round the corner and down the street.

Yes indeed they did queue, and inside the shop the staff would be working like mad filling postbags.Not the place to seek advice either,a good chance you would be told to F off, those were the days!!!
fiddler.

 

[IanF]

I guess we're just lucky in my area. At our local Jessops in Middlesbrough the manager - at least I think he is - is both interested in birds and in bird photography. It's seldom that they need to order what I want as it's usually in stock already - though they did struggle with a lens tube adapter for my P5000 - but then it had only just been released and they did tell me where I could get one Even if they need to order an item it's usually within 7 days.

As regards price matching their policy seems to be that as long as it's a UK supplier - i.e. with a warehouse in the UK then there's no problem - but not if it's just a UK 'office' - which implies grey imports. I don't have a problem with this - I just take in a print out of the site to price match.

If they close that store then it will be very sorely missed.

The only other local (within 30 miles) one we have is at Darlington - which is a bog standard one where I've yet to be served by anyone knowledgeable about what they're selling - though even there the stock items are pretty good.