Jessops (UK) going under?

spraynpray

Oh man - I just heard Jessops are going into administration - chapter 13 to yous guy in the 'states.

This is bad news. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I suspect it is summat to do with being unable to compete with internet companies.

shawnino

Wind-up or re-org?

spraynpray

Administration - like chapter 13 can mean re-org but it most often means an orderly winding up of the company.

shawnino

Thanks. Not living in either the UK or the US, my knowledge of bankruptcy law for those countries is pretty scant. That said, when I read "Administration" the first thing I thought of were various football clubs who pop in and out of administration but usually only face a points penalty and the release of a bunch of players who'd been overpaid and gotten them relegated to kick the whole crisis off.

SkintBrit

Where'd you hear that spraynpray?

mackemsrule

It's on sky news

spraynpray

BBC Radio 2

sevencrossing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20958659

SkintBrit

Yes, just heard it on the Beeb. I feel sorry for the 2000 staff and anyone who got given their gift vouchers for Christmas. Strangely enough, I was impressed last week when I noticed they were extremely competitive with the price of the D4 at £3999. (Thank goodness I didn't order one with a deposit). I suppose it is good news for companies like WEX, Park and Camera World though?

Symphotic

There's a Jessop's in Fareham that has supplied me with urgently needed stuff at the last minute more than once. You can't always anticipate everything for an overseas gig, but it is comforting to know there is a place nearby I can grab whatever I forgot.

We lost Ritz cameras here in the U.S. last year: most of the stores closed. We also lost our local independent camera shop. I've got to hike a bit to find a brick and mortar camera shop anymore. Not true in Japan: Yodobashi camera and Bic camera seem to be doing great business because they have expanded into other electronics lines. Cameras are now only a small part of the business. They are more like Best Buy now, but with much greater selections of cameras.

DJBee49

Shame about Jessops. I have dealt with them for years. They did however spend many years having crazy multiple retail shops in the same town, sometimes within a few yards of one another and their prices of late have not been competitive. Here in UK most camera retailers have completely disappeared. The only one left in my area of East Anglia is WEX in Norwich which is excellent and has a thriving internet trading base whilst having a large showroom where you can actually try equipment out. I hope it survives!

spraynpray

I've been giving this some thought and I recall my most recent attempts at shopping at my local Jessops:

1/ I wanted to buy my D7000 there but they wouldn't match the price of a competitor a few doors down - £50 difference

2/ I got an expensive photobook printed through them - they cocked it up so many times they gave it to me free in the end. It was a fabulous book in the end though.

3/ I went there to buy a bag and found they wanted £90 for something I could get for £45 - too much more! £50 or even £55, OK but not £90!

With regard to WEX, they need to have the same prices in store - none of the special internet pricing cr@p that Jessops and others have.

DJBee49

WEX do have parity of prices re. internet and store sales I believe. In fact, in-store sales are cheaper as you do not have to pay postage!
The danger to the remaining retailers is the increasing number of grey market suppliers. Some of these have very dodgy reputations whilst others are fine. WEX have a good reputation for supporting customers with equipment problems as far as I know but this may be more problematic with grey importers- mostly sourced in Hong Kong I think. There is then the grey area (sorry) of VAT in the UK for overseas imports.

spraynpray

Agreed. I bought my Tokina 11-16 from HK - they sent me a C*non fit ~X( and it took weeks to get it sorted. I will not buy expensive items from the far east now. I bought it for and interior shoot, but it missed that one AND the next one! There is a lesson in there....

I think my local Jessops should escape the axe if any do, it always seems busy when I go in there.

DJBee49

Regrettably, I doubt that the viability, or otherwise, of individual branches will have much influence over the survival of the company.

spraynpray

You may be right, but it depends on the review of the accounts. If it is decided that less profitable branches are pulling the company down, then the company could be slimmed down and then sold as a going concern. However, the people that really profit out of these situations are the liquidators and the scale of their charges sometimes is the straw that breaks the camels back so then everybody loses. I think the system is immoral and should be handled in such a way that the liquidators run the company to re-coup their costs and profit then sell the company as necessary.

SkintBrit

As I've said before on the forum, I found a manager at my local Jessops who was happy to do deals with people who could be interested in buying big ticket items (or might be good regular customers). Over the last few years I spent £1000's with him (hence being Skint). When he moved store I followed him, and developed a good mutual understanding. I knew he needed to earn a profit large enough to keep the lights turned on, and he knew that I could buy more cheaply on line. We found middle ground. I have been in to other branches where the managers have refused to negotiate at all (even lied and said they are not allowed), guess how much I spent with them? I have bought Hoya HD filters and SanDisk extreme pro cards from HK, for 1/4 of the price that these managers were asking. I can't afford to pay 4 times the money when I buy something! Stores that don't offer customers something extraordinary for the extra price they charge are destined to fail.

sideways

Spraynpray
+1
And these fees always come off the top ...

Skintbrit - that old adage that people like to buy from people... We'd all rather give business to people we like. I've met a couple of sales people in Jessops over the years who gave good advice but on the whole the store aimed at the general public not enthusiasts and their prices were much too high. Glad that you found a good guy and hope he keeps a decent job through all this.

Msmoto

In a way, the Ritz demise in the USA was similar to the Jessups. Ironically, in my town, another camera company was going to fill the space in the shopping center which had been the Ritz local. But, to reduce costs they wanted only half the space. Apparently the shopping center was unable to come together with the new tenant and so, three months later...the space is empty. I would suggest this circumstance is most likely not unusual, where a retailer cannot survive in the shopping center world as a result of the high overhead.

AndyEllis

I went into one of there stores to buy a SB900 flash, the lad behind the counter would get it out of the display cabinet for me to have a look before i bought one. He just had no interest in the job at all after asking a few questions and getting blank looks i got sick and went and bought one elsewhere!
Having said that i feel really sorry for the staff

PB_PM

That is an issue at many stores these days, pure sales skills are considered more important (for good reason) than actual knowledge of the products being sold. It makes the buying process more frustrating for customers, but considering how thin the margins are for the shops these days they don't have a lot of choice.

DJBee49

RIP Jessops.
As has been said above, if paying a premium price the customer expects a premium service and this was lacking with Jessops for the most part. Of late, they did have a significant internet sales drive but their prices were simply not competitive and their range of equipment not comprehensive. They certainly did not aim higher than the fairly keen amateur (they did once upon a time) which is a tough market for a specialist shop. You can buy a lot of amateur cameras in all sorts of non-specialist retail and internet sites these days. WEX has a different business model with a strong focus on the high end gear and so I hope it will survive. Many others with similar, high-end business profiles have fallen in the last fifteen years though.

SkintBrit

Skintbrit - that old adage that people like to buy from people...Glad that you found a good guy and hope he keeps a decent job through all this.

I've contacted him, and he's already got a job elsewhere. Good news for him, but a worry for the majority of the staff.

@msmoto: interesting you should mention overheads, one of my lasting memories of some Jessops stores, are walking past the entrance to see an empty store bar around 6 sales staff chatting. I always though "all those staff have got to be paid", and that if it were my business, I'd pay them very well, but have the flexibility to call them in/send them home depending on demand. That's what I do in my business right now. I can't afford to carry any overhead during quiet times, but can afford to have higher than normal when I'm busy. Your comment about the now vacant sales space in your local mall is indicative of the problem......land lords who would rather receive no income and have a vacant store (which looks terribly bad in any mall) than take an offer to keep it trading.

P.S. ALL branches have now closed according to their new one page website. I also feel for anyone who has gift vouchers/credit notes, or deposits that were not paid for using a credit card. According to the liquidators statement on the site, you can kiss your money/goods goodbye!

spraynpray

I went onto the site last night to see if they had any clearance prices on micro or trinity lenses but found - as Skinty said - even the website was closed.

I wonder what debts they have and what will happen to the stock.

PB_PM

In most cases like that any stock would be returned to the creditors (Nikon, Canon etc).

Msmoto

The Ritz stores in the USA went through a liquidator coming in and moving stock into consolidated stores. Some very good values could be had at the end. My Olympus E-PL2 was $200 vs, retail of $600. Filters went for $1 at the end, and the Ritz shirts....$3 each...

I do not think the big manufacturers want the goods back as most have only extended credit to a limit. Years ago I attempted to order Nikon gear from a local store who had credit problems and Nikon would only allow about $6000 credit for this store. So, all the stuff I ordered and paid for was delayed by several months until the retailer had paid Nikon the back payments. This is of course one of the problems for the small retailer, to have stock it must be paid for and if they do not have stock and cannot get it quickly, their sales suffer further contributing to the problems.