In a message dated 1/13/2005 4:54:12 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In my time I've watched a lot of people die retail-wise because they didn't adapt as well to changing times. I've watched more than one small company self-sabotoge themselves right out of business and I don't like to see that, really...They can do both, and do well, and they SHOULD.
LG is a lovely store, can't be beat on the film end, but they could be a GREAT store for the digital folks too and unfortunately I am not sure they wanna go there.. They'd rather stay in a niche market than cater to the whole market, fine for them maybe, but unfortuately that's a bit risky for most of the stores out there... They're not all that lucky..... As for the "expanding labs" that a bit of a fallacy actually. It's not so much that there are new ones as the ones that are there are going online, and advertising more to catch up with the market as a whole. A lot of labs had business enough that they never had to worry too much about where the business was coming from. They didn't have to court it as hard. Now they have to be more visible if they want thier share. When Mom and Pop can sit down at the computer and print their own pics and often DO? It's dog eat dog time.... ============= When I took a portrait class at The Darkroom in Martinez about eight-nine (?) months ago, the instructor, who also is the director, knew almost nothing about digital. Since about three of us in the class had DSLRs he learned a bit more. (And I was a bit ticked he wasn't of more help to me with a DSLR, BTW.) It has a rentable dark room and is the major place for B&W folks, I think, in CC County. OTOH, they won't last long if they don't come up to speed with digital. Which, BTW, I think they are beginning to -- more and more digital classes. Though they are going slow. I think the digital wave came much faster than some die-hard film types were ready for -- they thought they could hold out longer :-). But, I agree, it's do or die at this point. At least if you are operating a business. Marnie aka Doe
