Calumet: another one goes under....DONE

[unpopular]

The Internet is killing brick and mortar camera stores. Raise your hand if you bought your last camera from a walkin camera store.

Joe

So? Why do I want brick and mortar to stay around? For cameras, they seem obsolete. Brick and mortar benefits are instant possession and ability to try stuff out. Which is great for purchasing meat or clothing. But for cameras, I don't have any reason to need one right now versus two days from now, and return policies are so good that trying out to test for defects is of minor importance.

And the brick and mortar charges at LEAST 25% more on everything where I am, and for smaller items, as much as 200-300% more. The exact same filter I was looking at the other day was $20 on Amazon, and $75 at my local camera store?? Why pay exorbitantly more for no apparent benefit?

So what's left to make me care?

* Jobs? Propping up obsolete technology for the sake of jobs is bad policy. Should we have avoided switching to lightbulbs indefinitely because we were worried about the candlemakers' jobs?
* The environment? A fine argument if the brick and mortar store sells locally produced things, but not a valid argument when it's all coming from Japan either way, like cameras. It's using up 80 bazillion gallons of fuel versus 82 bazillion gallons of fuel.
* Local taxes? The better solution to this is simply to pass a non-stupid sales tax law that requires online retailers to require local sales tax.
* ??

I hate waiting for little pieces like sync cords or tripod plates.

The store here also develops film a sells it. Convenience is nice

As an amateur, I will gladly wait four weeks for a $3.00 sync cord to arrive from China, than having to pay $25 for the exact same cord from the exact same factory from Mom and Pop. Buying local is a nice sentiment, but I'm hardly obligated, especially when the price differences are so significant.

 

[photofree]

About a year ago when my flash meter quit while being tested, the night before a big job, only mom and pop could save me. And the cost while higher was just a bit more than overnight shipping would have sent the cost anyway. And overnight was not fast enough. There will always be a place for a decent camera shop. If you ask for a flash meter at a big box store, the sullen kid will just stare at you waiting for you to tell him/her what that is. Then him/her would tell you they don't have it. Because looking or asking would be too much work.

profound thinking about stuff

 

[unpopular]

^^ well, they might have it, but the kid wouldn't necessarily know that they have it. I've pretty much given up asking the clerks at Wal-Mart. Chances are they have what I'm looking for even when they firmly say that they don't.

 

[LebronPhoto]

The biggest expenses brick and mortar businesses have are space and people. Online businesses cover more territory with less people and less space. They can offer cheaper prices on accessories (camera prices don't vary much across the board).

The one thing camera specialty stores brought to the table was knowledge. With today's online resources and easy to use cameras, the need for that knowledge at store level has decreased, so people just look for price and availability.

Brick and mortar will survive, but in the supermarket, convenience, and other stores where waiting for days to get product is not practical.



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[Steve5D]

Online businesses cover more territory with less people and less space.

I'm pretty sure any single Amazon warehouse is bigger than any single brick & mortar you'll find...

 

[LebronPhoto]

But their warehouses combined don't match the consolidated warehouse and store sales floor and back rooms of the many chains, never mind the employees. I'm a retailer that operates 2 eCommerce sites and 11 brick and mortar stores. My eCommerce sites operate with two employees and order fulfillment direct from the supplier. I don't stock anything for eCommerce. My stores have 32 employees and 2.3 million in merchandise. I can easily compare both types of businesses.


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[unpopular]

Online businesses cover more territory with less people and less space.

I'm pretty sure any single Amazon warehouse is bigger than any single brick & mortar you'll find...

That's a pretty silly comparison. A warehouse does not have to cater to customer's comfort and safety, it does not have to take up floorspace for displays, registers or an open and inviting area to serve as it's lobby. As a result every square foot contains far more product.

 

[Steve5D]

Online businesses cover more territory with less people and less space.

I'm pretty sure any single Amazon warehouse is bigger than any single brick & mortar you'll find...

That's a pretty silly comparison. A warehouse does not have to cater to customer's comfort and safety, it does not have to take up floorspace for displays, registers or an open and inviting area to serve as it's lobby. As a result every square foot contains far more product.

It's not silly at all.

The statement was made that online dealers do more with less space. With what I know of online retailers, almost without exception, that it simply not true. It's just that their "space" is warehouse space as opposed to sales floor space. I simply chose the most obvious example: Amazon...

 

[Steve5D]

But their warehouses combined don't match the consolidated warehouse and store sales floor and back rooms of the many chains, never mind the employees. I'm a retailer that operates 2 eCommerce sites and 11 brick and mortar stores. My eCommerce sites operate with two employees and order fulfillment direct from the supplier. I don't stock anything for eCommerce. My stores have 32 employees and 2.3 million in merchandise. I can easily compare both types of businesses.

If you're combining every brick & mortar in the world, sure. But that's like saying that the San Francisco 49'ers can't beat high school football players, and then saying they can't beat a team comprised of every single high school player in the country. It's kinda' silly...

 

[LebronPhoto]

No. What I'm saying is that an online photo store, like B&H, would compete with the entire Ritz Camera chain, even though Ritz camera had stores and combined square footage exceeding B&H Photos. That said, my original premise is about the cost of doing business. That one single B&H photo location costs less to operate than all of the Ritz camera locations (before they closed). ECommerce retailers have lower expenses. That's the bottom line.


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[snowbear]

Interesting . . . There's a rumor (Petapixel) that a few stores in the US may reopen. I just got the "Store Closing" sale ad. It says "closing these locations only" but doesn't list the downtown DC store.

I might need to swing by 840 E street NW and see if the building is empty.