Sad news in DC today as Penn Camera declared Chapter 11 and is going out of business after nearly 60 years. Five locations are closing immediately while the ones at Rockville, Tyson's and 18th Street will do so after clearance sales.
Bricks and mortar stores have a tough time competing with the major outlets selling on the internet who allow customers to avoid sales taxes. Yes, in most states we're legally obligated to report online purchases and pay sales tax, but few folks do so. This means local shops are always at a disadvantage. I'd like to say I give my local camera shop business but I buy mostly used gear and this site as well as E-Bay simply offer the best opportunities for doing so. Sorry another store bit the dust, but this seems to be the price of "progress..." or whatever this is...
I don't like that trend either. Some of the camera stores are just so dumb that I wonder why they exist at all. I used to walk the streets of Chicago for years, looking for a particular lens, film, paper, chemicals or camera accessory, and I would have to go to four or five different camera stores in the hopes of finding what I wanted. Now, I have three choices, but it is the same story. "We can order it". Screw you, so can I "order it", and that will be somewhere else. Sales tax in Chicago is crazy expensive. I have wasted so much time at camera stores hoping to be happy with them. I used to love seeing a lens or accessory in the used department that I could actually afford. Most are not interested in selling anything used and do not "go after it" and get used products. Now, the camera stores want to sell it high and buy it for nearly nothing if at all. One of the biggest camera stores wanted to give me only $40 each for my Ais lens collection when I was going all digital. That was going to be a credit on what I would purchase there. I told that guy off and I left. I did not return for two years. Respect the customer. Now, as far as I am concerned, they can all "go to hell and fold up". Biggest gripes? Poor customer service, if any at all, not active in buy and sell, higher prices than online, no return policy if I don't like the product once I get it home, out of stock, we don't stock that, no parking, high sales tax, and now "we cannot open the box and show it to you because the next customer won't like that". I have had over thirty five years of camera store crap like this.
I ave bought several items from Penn last year. The only complaint I had is that it always took at least 5-8 weeks to get the item. Every single thing was back ordered. I just had to start going elsewhere and I guess I wasn't alone. Still hate to hear this though.
Respect the customer. Now, as far as I am concerned, they can all "go to hell and fold up". Biggest gripes?
... "we cannot open the box and show it to you because the next customer won't like that".
And yet one can read the rants about sellers who might do
this and then try to sell it as new --who pays the argued-for
difference? (And the Buy-Then-Return=CheapRental issue.)
Penn was the first camera store that I frequented when I lived in Maryland as I was getting into the hobby. I always had good experiences with them. More recently I have started visiting National Camera Exchange in Minnesota and have had great experiences with them as well. This doesn't stop me from buying online (B&H, KEH, B&S forum). I just wanted to say that like anything else, there will be good and bad stores. I feel it is a little unfair to say that brick and mortar stores are plagued with problems. Some will be and some won't. More realistically, every store (regardless of brick or online) will have a subset of issues, and each person just has to find the mix that fits them best.
Chapter 11 is the reorg section of the Federal bankruptcy statute. So, if Penn has filed under chap 11, it would generally mean that it is seeking to restructure its debt. It doesn't necessarily mean that the firm will be going out of business. That's what Chapter 7 is for. Of course, store closures are likely under Chap 11. But maybe it's not death, just dismemberment (so to speak).
For brick and mortar stores to survive they must have a strong online sellers market. Walk ins alone won't do it. I.E. B & H. But it's sad that there's no more walk in's to go and look at gear before you buy it. I guess the internet presence is enough nowadays to review gear without caressing it...
