Topic: Jessops - still here but for how long ?

[tinm@n]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8279911.stm

[Heather]

They've been dangling there for quite a while. It's a hollywood cliffhanger as far as I'm concerned. These stories of how badly they're doing have been going on for a few years now...
Liquidation of assets to pay off the shareholders doesn't sound good though.

[Francois]

Somehow, I  have the feeling that almost all camera stores are having difficulties nowadays. With big box stores selling photo gear (digital) and every corner grocery store and drugstore offering digital prints for 19 cents, business is hard. I know my favorite professional camera store looks more like a high end computer store nowadays than the fun place I remember from just a few years ago. (well, it's still a fun place, just not as fun as it used to be)

[tinm@n]

The independent shop I like to support is Mathers of Bolton, check them out as they do the cheapest Ilford film I can find anywhere.  They do mail order as well, fast turnaround.  No more buying cheap expired film on ebay for me.

http://www.mathersoflancashire.co.uk/

[Karl]

About 20 years ago sports shops stopped selling anything that actually helped you play a specific sport and concentrated on clothing and shoes plus the odd child sized football. Then record shops stopped concentrating on the actual music - records/CDs etc and branched out into books, tshirts, ipod pouches, etc.

I don't know where the place is for Jessops now that supermarkets and online companies do so much - I saw a Sony A200 plus lens in Asda the other day for ?250!

I do wonder if their profit margins on processing film were once quite a healthy income stream  Now they specialise in catering to the mass market (see sports shops above) that buy cameras, take photos, put them on a PC and then don't do much with them which results in a weak post camera sales business. Perhaps they should concentrate on photo clothing lines and cool comfy shoes to wear when you are carrying a 5Kg bag!

[sapata]

Not a surprise as their customer services are just awful.

[Ken B: eyes, I just do eyes.]

I'll put the boot in to Sapata, I have tried on about 5 occasions to get some help at different Jessops and all have been miserable experiences.

They were 5 different stores so it just shows there is a culture of crapness. The other chain stores are overall smaller chains so tend to do better.

But I do still try to search out the independent stores

[sapata]

I'll put the boot in to Sapata, I have tried on about 5 occasions to get some help at different Jessops and all have been miserable experiences.

They were 5 different stores so it just shows there is a culture of crapness. The other chain stores are overall smaller chains so tend to do better.

But I do still try to search out the independent stores

It's been years since I don't put my feet near close one them... I remember when years ago they're on the transition to "become digital"  I took a roll of 120 to process and the lady at the counter (who to be honest didn't seemed to have a clue about photography) said : " oh no...one of those... (films)"
I can spend a few time here writting about all bad experiences I had in that place...

[Nigel]

I'm afraid my experiences with Jessops have been similar. I wonder whether we could compile a list of camera shops we recommend? Not ones we just know of, stores we'd be happy to recommend to other Filmwasters.

I'm very happy to recommend Ronald White in Maidstone, Kent, UK. http://ronaldwhite.co.uk/default.aspx
The sort of shop where all the staff are really keen and knowledgeable.

[Heather]

RK's my closest http://www.thedarkroom.co.uk/ and Silverprint's my next closest so I'm spoiled really  In fact very spoiled as I know if I was really being lazy, I could ask RK to order from silverprint for me to go collect from them  They're really an awesome business with excellent staff. They've given me free film they've had hanging around the backroom from Kodak in the past (since I regularly tend to spend around ?50 at their shop, they normally give me a random 10% discount but this time I was just under so it was a sort of consultation prize!). Or maybe I get 10% off because every time I go up to visit them in person, it tends to pour down rain so I turn up on their doorstep looking like a drowned rat 

I don't know if they do the discount on larger orders if you're mailordering but apparently their mail order shipping rates are at cost and reasonable. Or so I've heard.

[sapata]

Metro Imaging  www.metroimaging.com
Always have my films processed there and never had any issues.

[cwilk]

Whenever I've bought something from Jessops, the assistant has told me that they bought it for their mother.

Coincidence or all using the same training pack?

I've never had a high opinion of Jessops.  I think of them like a supermarket not a specialist shop.

[sapata]

Whenever I've bought something from Jessops, the assistant has told me that they bought it for their mother.

Coincidence or all using the same training pack?

I've never had a high opinion of Jessops.  I think of them like a supermarket not a specialist shop.

... and yet my local Sainsburys have a much better customer services ! 

[Francois]

I've never had a high opinion of Jessops.  I think of them like a supermarket not a specialist shop.

... and yet my local Sainsburys have a much better customer services ! 

And my local supermarket handles most of my film processing needs in a way that competes with most pro labs...