I don't know where you guys live. I find few mom&pop camera stores anyplace I have lived. And the few I found I tended to spend time training the staff instead of getting help from them. I have said before, I am willing to pay a bit of a premium to be able to walk out of the store with the merchadice in my hands, but once tha gets to be substancial money forget it.
I should support a local store that does not support my needs in any way? If they carry the stuff I want, I buy it there. Mostly that is not the case. I shop via internet and via mail because that is what I have to do to get the stuff I want. Snapshots go to the minilab at wal-mart because that is the most convinent place to get them done. But about everything else I need, I have no choice but to buy via mail order, or drive 4 hours round trip to pay a 50% premium for. Besides that nifty local camera store (now a4 hour trip) sold an outfit that they had on 24 hour hold for me, via mail order to some guy in Canada. Was I upset when I walked into the store the next day with $1300 in my pocket to pay for it? Hell, I am still upset 5 years later. Quite frankly as far as I am concerned, they can go bankrupt and good riddens.
graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" -----------------------------------
frank theriault wrote:
On 4/25/05, Tom C <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip>
To me the best thing about the mom & pops is that I could go in and peruse. <snip>
If anyone really thinks that the prices at the big-boxes or on the internet will stay down once the little guys have all been driven out of business, I have this bridge in New York for sale. <g>
If there's one thing I hate (sorry, Tom) it's people who go into the
mom and pop, to look at an item, then go off to the big-box or the
internet and buy it for cheaper. At least if one's going to put them
out of business, have the decency not to use their services for free. Maybe say, "You know, this is a nice camera. I'm off to buy in
on-line. Here's $20 for your trouble; I'm still getting it for a
bargain even after giving you this $20."
Actually, I don't know how those little guys have survived for the last number of decades. First there was big department stores. Then malls. Now big boxes, Walmart and the internet. I gotta give 'em credit, they've hung in there, but I really don't know how much longer they can continue to do so...
cheers, frank
cheers, frank
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