Future Trend in Retail Stores?

I had been worried that a void was being created in a lack of brick and mortar stores where you could actually handle Canon/photography gear. Things have been trending that way for awhile with the rise of the internet and closing of a variety of convenient stores/chains (highlighted by the recent news from Jessops) and reports that chains such as Best Buy are hurting. But then there is news over at CR that Canon is going to follow Apple's model and have "Canon" stores. The LED tunnel aside (I'd prefer to not be "immersed" in sights and sounds), I am pretty excited about this. Most chain stores currently have a pretty limited selection of Canon gear. It would be great to walk into a store and handle most if not all of Canon's offerings and hopefully talk to knowledgeable staff. I've always enjoyed Apple Stores. If that is Canon's model, I hope they follow it closely.

At present you can buy the low end consumer lenses and bodies at Best Buy in our town. The two largest cities in my state have one significant camera store in each town. They will have the more common L items only. Occasionally they have a D series body and they push Nikon and third party lenses harder than Canon, because of the profit margins. If you go in to either and just ask for a DSLR, you are going to be handed a Nikon product. Your recent purchase of a new tripod, you wouldn't have found anything even close to that quality at these stores.

The local stores here are always packed, they have less than 1000sf of floor space and I think they make a god living.

I do not live in a small town, the two major cities here rank 30th and 45th in population. Not huge but you would think that we would at least get one Canon store.

Most people are looking for the cheapest deal they can and you just aren't going to get that at the local store. The other thing is the return policies, the local stores would have had a fit if I had returned the 24-70mm twice to try a different copy. B&H returns are no problem at all, other than the hassle of shipping it back and forth.

Convenience and fear will keep the local stores in business. People fear buying off the internet because of bad stores. The more people learn which are the reputable internet firms to buy from the more the little stores will be hurt. But convenience will keep them in business I think, but I compare shopping there to doing my grocery shopping at the 7/11.

If we are deep in to this hobby, the internet for many of us will be our main source of goods.

The problem with Jessops going to the wall, was that 75% of the staff didnt have a clue about photography or things associated with photography. EG colour management. It was ok for point & shoot and printing point & shoot pics.

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Originally Posted by kingscurate

The problem with Jessops going to the wall, was that 75% of the staff didnt have a clue about photography or things associated with photography. EG colour management. It was ok for point & shoot and printing point & shoot pics.

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I think this is a pretty common problem.

I am going to be very curious to see what the Canon stores are like. Rick may be right, in that the internet will always be home for those of us that are deeply into this hobby and for pros. It could be that the Canon stores will be more aimed at replacing the Jessops/Best Buy's of the world---i.e. consumer level products. But, hopefully, they have a 600 mm F/4 II or two lying around for folks like me to play with ;)

Kayaker72 - I see that you are in New Hampshire. I tend to go to the Hunt's Photo Store in Manchester. They don't have a huge selection, but I have been able to get most of what I want with the exception of filters, these I've ordered on line. I've been pretty happy with the customer service at Hunt's as well. I haven't run into anyone that didn't know what they were talking about.
I've noticed that the DSLR selection at the local Best Buy has been getting really thin over the past several months.
I would like to see a Canon store in the area. I would imagine that there would be one in the Boston area eventually.

I guess it's started.

Canon Canada has opened a canon store in Calgary.
facebook link
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

site link
http://www.canon.ca/inetCA/categoryH...=20494&lang=en

I also prefer to have my hands on an item before purchasing.... but if their store prices are same as their online site in Canada... I'll continue to buy my items at B&H. Shipped to my door with taxes and warranty still less expensive.

I was in Calgary today so I dropped in to the new Canon store. It certainly looks and operates like an Apple store, with bright lights, an open concept, and the immediate greeting by a staff member when you walk in. They have a lot of lenses readily available to try, but they didn't have the one I wanted (the 14 mm prime). Plus, they had no way of bringing that lens in, because they were at the mercy of what Canon decided to send them. What the store did offer was a more comfortable and spacious area to try out different body and lens combos. So I suppose if you're not sure what you want, this would be a good place to go for some quick test drives.