Sony has made the grade!! Check out Jessops UK,Oxford Street

[David Kilpatrick]

And Jessop shares just collapsed from 6p to 2p (with a brief low of 1.5p probably making some fat cats more fat cash) yesterday as they struggled with £60m of debt and a load of useless employees and rented outlets.

What a different company to Alan Jessop's original. Back in 1979, Alan hired me and my business partner Steve to install the first Agfa C66 print processor and write the manual and do the ads - they were the sole distributors. We used to work weekly with them, going to Leicester to do equipment pictures and lens tests for magazines - we had a studio set up in Jessops whenever we needed it. Around 1981 they got me to test lots of different films, to choose the films which would be Jessop own brand (I selected EFKE, former Adox, b/w and it sold very well). All the staff there were serious enthusiasts, many had ARPS and a couple had FRPS. The HQ of Practical Photography was 30 miles south of them and we were about the same north, Practical also used to drop in regularly and get Jessops to help with tests and stuff the same way I did - and get mentions.

Today I doubt there's a member of staff left on friendly working terms with photo press writers day by day, or anyone I would remember - or who would remember me, or how things were.

David

[plevyadophy]

Lol, well all I can say is that you and I must have very different expectations of what a store should offer.

Hmm, yes perhaps

I stopped by this Saturday just gone, and my initial hopes of entering a wonderland of photo gear were fairly quickly dismissed. Yes, they have shiny new cabinets. Which are locked. And behind the tills.

Locked cabinets I can understand. Keeping stealable things behind the tills, I can understand. But putting all the gear in a locked display cabinet that you can't get closer than six feet to? No thanks.

ALL the gear? Like what? Gosh! I must have been WAAY too excited, ha ha ha

But seriously, I only recall a few things being behind glasss cabinets and no more than at the Sony Centre around the corner or Jacobs across the road.

They didn't even have much in stock for Sony. Just the usual A200, A300, A350, A700, A900 and associatied kits, and a few lenses. Couldn't see any grips, accessories, no white (or silver) lenses, nothing more glamorous than a 70-300G or a 100 macro.

I am pretty certain that when I was in there they had an Alpha grip, but then I may be confusing them with Jacobs across the road as I went, as usual, to both stores.

After a few minutes I realised that the usual Jessops shopping experience was on offer here too. I only wanted to ask if they had the Sony hand grip in stock, or a replacement hard screen protector for my A700 which is looking rather scuffed these days. Endless queuing ensues as a variety of non-serving staff wander around aimlessly, and the majority of those who were serving customers were, erm, of foreign origin with a distinctly limited grasp of the english language. For the guy that served my sister enquiring about a Nikon lens, his lack of language skills was only surpassed by his lack of knowledge about, well, anything. Even tried to sell her a separate screw-in lens hood despite the lens she was looking at having one in the box.

Well, I have to say "hands up, I surrender!" because I didn't actually try to get served. It so happens that I am one of these nerds who researches something to the nth degree and then goes in-store to buy so very rarely need the advice of sales staff, although that does differ somewhat from ASSISTANCE and if you can't get ASSISTANCE then that's bad.

And yeah, what you describe is correct re foreign nationals with poor English language skills. But funnily enough, until you mentioned it, it wasn't something I really noticed that much; I kinda internalised it because as I said, I very rarely ask for their advice, I know a few of the staff fairly well and tend to gravitate towards them, and for much of my life I have worked with foreign nationals so tend to find it easier to decipher their pidgin English.

And I think perhaps the aimless wondering around of some of the staff is perhaps wonderment at their new spacious working environment, ha ha ha

So I did the same as I do in Newcastle. Walk out muttering under my breath, and cross the road to go to Jacobs directly opposite. In there they didn't have any fancy displays, and they didn't have any accessories I wanted, but they did have the standard ACE dealer cabinet, fully stocked including a 70-200/2.8, and despite being busier than Jessops, I got served in a fraction of the time by someone that could answer my question quickly and friendly.

I think the thing to note is that a while back when Jessops hit the news headlines because it was on the verge of collapse, a lot of the better staff (photography enthusiasts who actually went out shooting in their spare time or were studying the subject at uni) didn't hang around and jumped ship. I have spotted one of them working for Jacobs across the road, and others working for Calumet.

The truth is, Jessops does attract what I would call McDonalds staff. That is to say people who are just passing time, making some pocket money to top up their student income and see the store as a temporary thing until bigger and better things come along. On the other hand, Jacobs and especially Calument seem to attract staff who have a geniune love of photography or simply like working with electronic gear. But that isn't to say that there aren't some knowledgeable staff at the New Oxford Street branch, because there are ............. just not as many as there once was.

But still, I think it is something to get excited about, OK OK not excited , shall we say pleased (?) about that Sony has managed to achieve such recognition in such a short space of time.

[plevyadophy]

And Jessop shares just collapsed from 6p to 2p (with a brief low of 1.5p probably making some fat cats more fat cash) yesterday as they struggled with £60m of debt and a load of useless employees and rented outlets

Gosh! Wow! Now I really wish I was trading the markets. That would be one nice fat profit to have made.

What a different company to Alan Jessop's original. Back in 1979, Alan hired me and my business partner Steve to install the first Agfa C66 print processor and write the manual and do the ads - they were the sole distributors. We used to work weekly with them, going to Leicester to do equipment pictures and lens tests for magazines - we had a studio set up in Jessops whenever we needed it. Around 1981 they got me to test lots of different films, to choose the films which would be Jessop own brand (I selected EFKE, former Adox, b/w and it sold very well). All the staff there were serious enthusiasts, many had ARPS and a couple had FRPS. The HQ of Practical Photography was 30 miles south of them and we were about the same north, Practical also used to drop in regularly and get Jessops to help with tests and stuff the same way I did - and get mentions.

Today I doubt there's a member of staff left on friendly working terms with photo press writers day by day, or anyone I would remember - or who would remember me, or how things were.

Well, part of the problem is the Thatcherite greed mentality, her infamous view that there is no such thing as community (or similar words to that effect).

So the sould of the company was destroyed in a head long rush to please bean counters and masters of spreadsheets, and in so doing they swallowed up a lot of small independents too.

But consumers must take some of the blame too. How many times do we see folks whinging and whining about the price of something and comparing unfairly the price of something in a store with what they can purchase it for on the internet, or worse eBay. So of course, some management teams will come in and asset strip and outsource to a poor country to reduce costs and keep the bean counters, spreadsheet gazers, and foolish consumers happy.

The end result is what you describe as having happened to Jessops, and what I too describe in my last post above. I too remember a time when Jessops (New Oxford Street branch) had more of a soul, and that soul was taken away as soon as they got rid of the second-hand department (as such departments invariably attract enthusiasts and knowledgeable people).

And when we lose jewels like you describe, many people are up in arms about it but by then it's too late.

However, I do see that Jessops New Oxford Street is trying to recover some of its lost soul in that it now has a lecture room in place. Hopefully, regular teaching sessions there may rekindle the notion that the store should, as well as having to return a profit, be a home for photographers.

Regards,