Mike Té
Subscriber
Hi, Simon; Mike from Ottawa writing...
This morning I left the house with a photographic shopping list and had to go to the three remaining shops that carry at least some darkroom products. After I'd done my rounds, I ended up being unable to find a couple of products. This lead to a discussion with one of the gentlemen at Galaxy Photo, who have the largest and most varied number of items still in stock. Not nearly enough, I have to add.
It seems that in order to get any Ilford products, he must adhere to an unreasonable minimum order policy set by the importer, WYNIT of the USA. He says it's nowhere near reasonable given that they're a small retailer and that darkroom practice has become a niche market. The importer apparently, doesn't seem to care as their main focus is electronics...
Simon, is Ilford able to exercise any influence over that policy? It must be affecting Ilford sales across Canada.
I argue that, for the importer, making the products available and allowing a small retailer to keep darkroom products stocked in any quantity that meets demand (however small, as long as it exists) gets the photographers into the shop and therefore could generate sales of ALL products.. Many people mix and match their film and digital techniques, so it seems to me that supporting film and darkroom practice can be advantageous from a business point of view.
Ginn's will soon have no more darkroom stuff (they have no more papers). Henry's, being a big chain, keeps a couple of token boxes of papers and can order stuff in from Toronto, but they obviously don't care to keep up their analog section here in Ottawa. Galaxy seems to want to continue supporting analog photography.
This level of decrease doesn't make sense. We're a region of well over a million people here. There are still 3 schools teaching darkroom; Carleton U., The Ottawa School of Arts and the School of Photographic Arts. There are at least 3 clubs... Plenty of clients for a small-niche retailer to survive, especially since there is really no more competition!
Cheers.
This morning I left the house with a photographic shopping list and had to go to the three remaining shops that carry at least some darkroom products. After I'd done my rounds, I ended up being unable to find a couple of products. This lead to a discussion with one of the gentlemen at Galaxy Photo, who have the largest and most varied number of items still in stock. Not nearly enough, I have to add.
It seems that in order to get any Ilford products, he must adhere to an unreasonable minimum order policy set by the importer, WYNIT of the USA. He says it's nowhere near reasonable given that they're a small retailer and that darkroom practice has become a niche market. The importer apparently, doesn't seem to care as their main focus is electronics...
Simon, is Ilford able to exercise any influence over that policy? It must be affecting Ilford sales across Canada.
I argue that, for the importer, making the products available and allowing a small retailer to keep darkroom products stocked in any quantity that meets demand (however small, as long as it exists) gets the photographers into the shop and therefore could generate sales of ALL products.. Many people mix and match their film and digital techniques, so it seems to me that supporting film and darkroom practice can be advantageous from a business point of view.
Ginn's will soon have no more darkroom stuff (they have no more papers). Henry's, being a big chain, keeps a couple of token boxes of papers and can order stuff in from Toronto, but they obviously don't care to keep up their analog section here in Ottawa. Galaxy seems to want to continue supporting analog photography.
This level of decrease doesn't make sense. We're a region of well over a million people here. There are still 3 schools teaching darkroom; Carleton U., The Ottawa School of Arts and the School of Photographic Arts. There are at least 3 clubs... Plenty of clients for a small-niche retailer to survive, especially since there is really no more competition!
Cheers.