Good News and Bad News

Jessops is more of a chain of shops for electronic goods these days than a photographic chain. But trying to compete with Currys/PC World, Comet, Argos and all the online retailers probably means they are on a hiding to nothing. They will probably get taken over or disappear in the next year or two.

They've changed a lot since they were a small family run shop in Leicester selling photographic gear at low prices. In those days there were often so many customers in the shop that it was difficult to get inside. Personally I haven't bothered with them for years and everything said in this thread re-inforces that. They only have one shop where I live but amazingly there are still half a dozen or so real photographic shops. But I have no idea if these still stock chemistry.

7dayshop works. I bought all my Canon 'new' lens there, before they stopped. Now it's mostly film and gizmos (they have cheap reflectors, light tents etc!); oh and they have the cheapest 120 E6 processing you can find anywhere (dlab7.com); the quality is excellent, but you have to wait a week.. /don't/ try their scanner tho. huh.

Local jessops tried to sell me an opened box of Ilford paper for the full price. They had some DDX left tho, so I bought it, at a full £3 less than the current Ilford price

There is another 'chain' that I rather like. the 'photo optix' one. the one in Windsor are mostly knowledgeable and friendly, even if they only have digicams anymore.

I think photo shops will soon realize than customers don't come back. See my wife for example:
+ Bought her digicam 3 years ago
+ Bought a spare memory card & battery (from 7days )
+ Doesn't print any image. ever.
(Well now she uses a Canonet for her 'serious' photos but still )

So, before the digicam she bought film, and made prints. Now she is completely /lost/ for the photography market until her camera breaks down.

When the digi market reaches saturation, there will be nobody left to buy anything. Poeple don't print their images, they email/flickr them.
That day a whole chunk of the retail market is going to crahs down. Jessops leading the way.

I visited Derby last week. They have a branch of Jacobs. Jacobs was never as big as Jessops, but in some towns was a viable alternative in the good old days (of film!). They are still hanging in there, but have also undergone a metamorphosis into a digi-cam outlet. However, both the Derby shop and the B'ham shop, although they are very similar to Jessops in size and concentration on digital, do still have a full range of chemicals, paper and film stuck up one corner.
So, if they can do it...

I really think Jessops' postion is deliberately anti film based photography.
Unless, as someone has said earlier, they are struggling. It wouldn't suprise me if they aren't 'rationilsed' themselves, at some point. I'm sure we could really do with a few more branches of Currys