Are Leicas available at Walmart stores?

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Kodachromeguy

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Selling Leica via Walmart is totally bogus. Walmart, Sears, and other vendors are trying to do the Amazon thing where they host sellers of luxury or odd items and, presumably, get a percentage of sales. So no, Walmart definitely does not sell Leica and neither do dying companies like Sears.
 

GRHazelton

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At one point in the dim past I think Sears sold Nikon rangefinders. I know that they re-labeled AsahiFlex SLRs as Tower and the lenses for same. Today? Leicas? Not likely.
 

BAC1967

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Selling Leica via Walmart is totally bogus. Walmart, Sears, and other vendors are trying to do the Amazon thing where they host sellers of luxury or odd items and, presumably, get a percentage of sales. So no, Walmart definitely does not sell Leica and neither do dying companies like Sears.

Sears sold many different brands including Mamiya, Nicca, Olympus, Ricoh, Pentax, etc. usually re-branded as Tower.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sears
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sears
I wouldn't mind having one of the Nicca Rangefinders, I understand they are a very good Leica copy.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Nicca
 

GRHazelton

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They also sold the 2 x 3 press camera made by Busch. Those were the days....

I remember walking into a camera store in a smallish city in the midwest in the late 1950s. In addition to the usual brands, they carried Alpa, and I think Leica. For a teen photog it was like being in a candy store. I couldn't afford those brands then, and not really now.
 

Paul Howell

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I remember going to K Mart on a Sunday and buying 8X10 Kodabrmide, Dektol, fix and stop, a couple of rolls of GAF 500 (not a very good film) and 3M slide film. I think K mart carried re-branded Petri 35mm and a TLR, dont know who make it.
 

summicron1

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i just bought a Busch Pressman model D that is rebranded as a Tower -- Sears brand. I don't think they ever sold Leicas, although there were some Niccas, I think, Leica copies, that were rebranded Tower.

What the hell, anything for a buck.
 

moto-uno

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^You should thoroughly your Pressman D , I've got 2 of them and couldn't be happier , seeing
a Fuji Provia on 4x5 is love at first sight . Peter
 
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chip j

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Yeah, and I remember buying 100 shts of Brovira for $6 at Woolco. But for me to have the "Leica Experience" I want to go to a physical store of long repute and be waited upon by gentlemen in Leica livrey, with all appropriate rituals and vapors supplied.
 

mike c

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Back when in the later sixty's it was SLR's everybody wanted, not range finder camera's, not much mention about Leica's but heard about Deardoff and Hasselblad.But 35mm SlR's especially Nikons.
 

removed account4

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i got my m3 DS at walmart, and a 135 tele, a sum collapsable, and 35 sumachron
all the hype was true ! great cameras and the made in germany stickers didn't fall off to
suggest they were made somewhere else ...
 

Kodachromeguy

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In the 1970s and early 1980s, Sears Roebuck in USA (maybe applicable to Canada, too?) printed a separate photographic supplies catalog. They offered serious equipment such as Nikon F, all sorts of darkroom equipment, and darkroom furniture. These items were not stocked in their stores, but you could request shipment to your local store. I don't recall if they sold Leica. But back then, you could find serious photographic equipment at many outlets. I remember eying and admiring (of course!) the Leica M5 at the University Book Store at University Way NE in Seattle. As I recall, it cost about $900 in 1973 with a 50mm Summicron, and that was when my in-state tuition was $164 a quarter (Yes, a full 16 or 17 credit hours cost only $164!). Sigh....
 

quixotic

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In the 1970s and early 1980s, Sears Roebuck in USA (maybe applicable to Canada, too?) printed a separate photographic supplies catalog. They offered serious equipment such as Nikon F, all sorts of darkroom equipment, and darkroom furniture. These items were not stocked in their stores, but you could request shipment to your local store. I don't recall if they sold Leica. But back then, you could find serious photographic equipment at many outlets. I remember eying and admiring (of course!) the Leica M5 at the University Book Store at University Way NE in Seattle. As I recall, it cost about $900 in 1973 with a 50mm Summicron, and that was when my in-state tuition was $164 a quarter (Yes, a full 16 or 17 credit hours cost only $164!). Sigh....

I have a Canadian Sears catalogue in my hand right now. 1975. Most expensive thing in there is a Ricoh Singlex SLR at $279.96 (a fair chunk of change back then, I'd think). Next in price is a Pentax Spotmatic 1000. There's also a Ricoh 500G rangefinder for $99.
 

MattKing

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In the Simpsons-Sears/Sears Canada stores I worked in during the late 1970s and slightly into the 1980s, we sold a lot of Canon equipment, including cameras that Canon only sold through Sears (like the TLb, which was no longer available elsewhere). I sold a significant quantity of AE-1s, A-1s and a fair number of FD lenses (although nothing exotic).
We also had Konica and Olympus equipment - both SLRs and fixed lens rangefinders.
We sold lots of film - Kodachrome, Kodacolour, and a fair bit of Sears brand film, which was made for Sears by 3M. We also sold Polaroid fim and cameras. We also sold flashes and flashbulbs.
And a lot of people left their films with us for processing.
In the same department we sold stationery, greeting cards, typewriters and office furniture too.
 

John Wiegerink

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i just bought a Busch Pressman model D that is rebranded as a Tower -- Sears brand. I don't think they ever sold Leicas, although there were some Niccas, I think, Leica copies, that were rebranded Tower.

What the hell, anything for a buck.
I had one for a long time and it's a sweet camera and built to last and last. There is a 4x5 Sears Tower aka. Busch Pressman model D on the big auction site right now if you want to see what it looks like. Very nice cameras indeed.
 

Huss

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I don't care who sells me my Leica. As long as I can get a lot of it, for as cheap as possible.
I just need my Leica fix, man.
 

shutterfinger

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In the early days of photography Sears Roebuck and Company contracted with companies and rebranded them Seroco.
Sears to this day sets specifications for their products and contracts various manufacturers to make their goods for them. Many times the product only has a name change other times there is a slight difference between the manufacturer's version and Sears version.
http://piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogsconley&sears.htm
 

MattKing

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It would be nice if Walmart would help with some of the distribution issues that plague the film and darkroom market in Canada.
 
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