A plug for Citizens Photo in Portland, Oregon. They are a small business
that has been around for over 20 years. It sells Pentax equipment. I
take all my photo finishing work to them, including some digital stuff.
Jim A.
> The photographic industry needs your support right now, and I'd like to
> take
> a moment to convince anyone who is willing to listen why you're better off
> buying from local camera shops than internet sites or big box stores.
>
>
> When you buy something from a local store, there are two major advantages
> for your community (this is from a US point of view, so things may be
> slightly different elsewhere). First, your money is supporting local
> businesses and jobs, and it stays local. It doesn't go to some corporate
> headquarters on the other side of the country. Second, the taxes you pay
> support your local municipalities, such as schools and fire stations.
> Buying online does not support any of these services, which you may need
> some day.
>
> Buying local can also be more convenient in the event you need any sort of
> customer service. The fact that you can talk to someone face to face
> means
> you can usually get your problem solved in a more timely manner. At the
> very least, having a local specialty shop to go to usually means a large
> portion of the staff knows what they're talking about, and since they want
> to keep you as a customer they will usually do what it takes to make you
> happy (managers especially).
>
> Big box stores (by which I mean places like Fry's, Best Buy, Wal*Mart,
> etc)
> and internet stores don't care about the customer; they usually care more
> about sales volume. Their prices are low because they move so many items
> they don't need a large profit margin on most things. Their prices are
> also
> low because their staff is often not as knowledgeable about the products
> they sell as staff are at specialty shops, like the one I used to work at.
> In other words, the box stores tend to hire cheap labor.
>
> A lot of internet stores sell low-quality accessories at high markups
> because they know the customer won't know what they're getting till it
> arrives in the mail ("it comes with a memory card? great!"). I know a
> lot
> of PDML members probably wouldn't fall for that, but it something a lot of
> everyday buyers have no clue about.
>
>
> There are plenty more reasons for shopping at local stores and specialty
> shops, but suffice to say, if you want local camera shops to exist AT ALL
> in
> the future, please consider buying from them in the present. Yes, you'll
> probably pay a little more, but it's worth it in the long run.
>
> Isn't it?
>
> John Celio
> (if it weren't for so many people buying online and at big box stores, I'd
> probably still be working at Reed's)
>
> --
>
> http://www.neovenator.com
>
> AIM: Neopifex
>
> "Hey, I'm an artist. I can do whatever I want and pretend I'm making a
> statement."
>
>
>
> --
> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
> [email protected]
> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
>
>
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
