Topic: Impossible rationalizing global footprint...

[This-is-damion]

...That is to say getting rid of most of it shops and staff in those locations to concentrate on making new films and cameras.

I know most of us have a love/hate relationship with impossible - just hope this means the pace at which they improve the films speeds up!  My last batches of original 600 film are more miss than hit so I'm really hoping they get that original pola charm and quality nailed soon.

Also of course.. rubbish to hear for the people involved - lets hope they get themselves sorted job wise asap. 

https://blog.the-impossible-project.com/a-letter-from-impossible-s-ceo

[Francois]

For my last pack of 600, I opted to use it in an SX-70 with the dial all the way to dark. It seems to make it less bad than it was.

As for Impossible's NY store, I think that location wise, they probably bit off more than they can chew. Their store is located in a place where prices are very high. From the get go, when you think that NYC has one of the highest rental cost per square feet, it's not surprising that they chose to move to another neighborhood.

Just as a comparison, one of the prime real estate spots in Montreal used to rent for 500$/Sq.Ft. some 17 years ago. In today's money, that should be well over the 850$ mark. Now you can't do anything with just one Sq.Ft., so prices add up really fast. And since New York is so much more expensive than Montreal, I just can't imagine how much they were sinking in their store/gallery space...

[moominsean]

Yeah i'm sure it's simply a matter of trying to make the company profitable, and boutique shops all over the world probably cost more money than they bring in. Internet sales are probably the main source pf revenue.

[gothamtomato]

The problem with the NYC space (from my point of view) was that it was to far downtown. Very out of the way. It was a very large, loft-like space that they could have utilized in a much better way. They should have been having regular events there; they should have been working with professional groups and camera clubs to bring in activity. That would have justified that space and helped pay for it and it would have been a win/win for everyone. A store that doesn't have natural foot traffic has to be creative.

[02Pilot]

Isn't this essentially the same process that Lomography went through a few years ago: closing a bunch of ill-placed, underutilized, and expensive storefronts and consolidating their efforts on product?

[Francois]

Probably (and hopefully yes).
I never get it why companies start a business with the hope of putting on regular events and yet never do so... and then wonder why their business model isn't working.

[Terry]

Old news.  Back in April I went to their Canal Street shop and was told that it had been shut down.

[Francois]

Well... news does move slow from time to time...

[Terry]

I guess I feel that TIP could do better on the customer relations front.  I checked their website and it said, in effect, 'come on down and visit our store!'  But when I rang the bell...and rang the bell...and rang it many more times I eventually roused a human who said they were closed.

[tkmedia]

Old news.  Back in April I went to their Canal Street shop and was told that it had been shut down.

It was mentioned before at the beginning of the year somewhere... I always thought it was a bit of a odd location.

[Francois]

I don't know how the commercial space market is in NYC... they might not have had much of a choice since they wanted the space to be fairly large... a small noodle shop sized space would not have worked...

[gothamtomato]

I guess I feel that TIP could do better on the customer relations front.  I checked their website and it said, in effect, 'come on down and visit our store!'  But when I rang the bell...and rang the bell...and rang it many more times I eventually roused a human who said they were closed.

Yes, same here. I tried contacting them about an issue both by phone and email, repeatedly, and never got a response. Not that I didn't get the response I was looking for - I got no response at all. Zero. That is no way to do business. You don't stay in business long when you ignore your customers.

[Francois]

To give the benefit of the doubt, their web provider might not let some messages through. I have the same problem with my cell phone company which is a competitor of my internet company. The only way I have to get messages from them is to use Gmail...

[This-is-damion]

There was something on the Twitter today - In light of the recent celeb nude picture leak that's in the news over here Impossible made some sort of joke about its better to take such nude pictures  on Impossible film.   That created some kind of mini backlash with people saying it was tasteless and then a guy called Mat from the US (@mgagle)  piped up saying that the Twitter feed was run out of the HQ rather than the american arm.    He also went on to say that there has been MAJOR changes at Impossible over the last couple of weeks and that many of the original people are no longer involved and that "it showed"


Wonder how that one will play out...

[gothamtomato]

I just think they don't take responsibility for anything, and their whole business model, right from the beginning, is to get us (their customers) to not treat them like a business, but more like a non-profit/charity (ie; we are supposed to support them). I was willing to go along with that at the beginning. Like everyone else I was desperate for Polaroid film to continue and thrilled that a business had decided to continue it. But there are limits. The quality has never materialized and they expect people to keep forking out $$$ for crap. And the final straw for me was that on top of that I couldn't get them to answer the phone or return a message or an email to address an issue. I've lost my patience with them. They're not a cancer charity; they are a for-profit company that makes a product that they market by trying to make its defects seem like virtues. I'm done.

[Late Developer]

They used to have a shop at Spitalfields in London. I walked past there a couple of weeks ago.  It's gone.  Don't know when.  According to Google, they now have a shop in Soho - just a short stride from Regent Street.  You don't get much more expensive rent and business rates in the UK, possibly Europe.

I've seldom used them as I don't buy into the trendy / hipster photography scene, I have no background with toy cameras and I like my film to be top quality B&W and/or colour - not weirdy redscale, etc.  I'm not knocking it, I'm just saying it isn't for me.

As for TiP, I gave up years ago.  I've seen a few decent shots using it but they seem very few and far between ad I'm not spending £18-20 for a pack of 8 prints unless I know I'll get great results if I do my bit of the process right.  I really do not appreciate unpredictability - nor will I pretend it's part of the artistic process.

[Francois]

Personally, I always choked at their prices.
Since I have both an Instax and Polaroids, I have a choice.