Jessops in Administration

Steve Smith · Jan 12, 2013

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I live on the Isle of Wight which is only 26 miles wide. Despite this we have (had) a Jessop's store and two branches of a family run photographic business (which also sell hi-fi equipment).

I'm sure that if our tiny island can support two independent shops, then there are other similar businesses in the rest of the country. Perhaps they can now do oven better without Jessop's there as the obvious first place for a customer to try.

Steve.

R.Gould · Jan 12, 2013

Steve, I live in an island that is 9x5 and until Jessop moved in we had 2 very good and long established photography shops, one great for all things darkroom, both equipment and materials, selling all Agfa and Ilford and with a treasure trove of darkroom equipment, enlargers both new and secondhand, plus everything else you could ever need the other, just around the corner, great for smaller stuff and film, Jessops bought out the first, and within days the second floor with all the enlargers went, the papers and chemicals went, all execpt for Jessops own brand, but for a while the prices stayed competive, then within a year the shop around the corner was forced to close, it could not compete with Jessops, this after 2 generations of the same family running the shop,Within a few weeks film stock was reduced in Jessops to just a few Ilford films, 5 rolls of HP5 and a few of other Ilford films, a handfull of color films, and the prices of the few films available doubled, so film and darkroom supplies all became, for me, mail order, but if I ran short I could get one or two to tide me over, Now we have no photographic shop at all, and also Jessops also drove the mini labs out of busines, now they are gone we have nowhere on island left to get films processed,
Richard

Steve Smith · Jan 12, 2013

Richard - do you think there would be enough business on your island for an independent photo shop now? I'm surprised we have enough for two but I suppose the digital and hi-fi stuff keeps them going.

Steve.

Ian Grant · Jan 12, 2013

benjiboy said:
This isn't just about the demise of one multiple photographic retailer, but about the death of the high street which most consumers won't realize until it's gone, and as long as people use the shops for them to handle and demonstrate the products and buy them on-line the decline will continue.

It's a complex issue but I know from experience that when a town/city has good shops they are enjoyable places to shop and busy. My local town centre is dying partially killed by recent new developments which took the big stores like Boots, M&S etc off the High Street, however the county town Worcester (actually a small city) thrives with few empty shops. I can think of other places like that as well but also unexpected exceptions.

I think when shops sell what people actually want they do well, LCE in Worcester sells new (digital) and secondhand (a good selection of analog & digital) at reasonable prices, there's always customers when I go in.

Away from photography (although they do sell frames) one gift shop always amazes me, it's small but has a good turnover because the stock is constantly changing, there plenty of items items in various prices bands.

Ian

perkeleellinen · Jan 12, 2013

My local was shuttered up today, many people peering in as the lights were on (I think they're always on). I think that a closed Jessops gained more interest than an open Jessops today.

Just up the road is a small independent photo finishing store which doesn't have much film to speak of, but I hope Jessops' demise brings business their way. Maybe they could be persuaded to stock chemistry.

R.Gould · Jan 12, 2013

Steve Smith said:
Richard - do you think there would be enough business on your island for an independent photo shop now? I'm surprised we have enough for two but I suppose the digital and hi-fi stuff keeps them going.

Steve.

With Jessops out of the game then yes, there are a fair few analoge photographers still over here, and an awful lot of digital, and a lot of digital prints, plus if one could incorparate film and digital printing then yes, certainly whenever I passed the Jessops they always seemed busy here, but they had a total monopoly within Jersey.Many I speak to, including myself, would prefer to buy locally as Mail order is expensive,the carriage from AG is £13.5 and Firstcall is around £15, which means you need to get a biggish order to make it worthwhile, for just a few films it adds a lot to the overall costs.
Richard

Steve Smith · Jan 12, 2013

One thing I liked about Jessops was that if I wanted to order just one item, such as a bottle of fixer, I could request that it was sent to my local shop then go and pick it up and pay for it without paying for postage.

The actual cost was higher than most of the other dealers but without the delivery charge, which is a large percentage of a small order, it made it worth it.

Have you thought of opening a shop?!!

Steve.

R.Gould · Jan 12, 2013

I too have found that very handy and have used it a number of times, if it was just some fixer, maybe a box of paper of developer then taking the carriage it indeed worked out cheaper, as far as opening a shop, If only I had the time, I am too busy with my photography business, I am the only remaining pro photographer in the Channel Islands, as far as I know, still working with film and working in Black and White and it keeps me busy, people over here like what I do and keep coming back
Richard

benjiboy · Jan 12, 2013

That's it folks,Jessops ceased trading and closed their doors for the last time last night.

batwister · Jan 12, 2013

benjiboy said:
This isn't just about the demise of one multiple photographic retailer, but about the death of the high street which most consumers won't realize until it's gone, and as long as people use the shops for them to handle and demonstrate the products and buy them on-line the decline will continue.

We all know the staff in Jessops couldn't tell anyone anything about photography. For a 'specialist store', why wasn't this of paramount importance?

I use to love Warhammer when I was little - despite never being particularly nerdy - and going to the Games Workshop store was a real joy; the enthusiastic staff painting models and playing the game on the store's huge tabletop battlefield. There are very few people who go into that store solely to buy models and leave, they will always interact with the staff and discuss their hobby. My Dad, who has always carried himself as Mr. Cool, ended up buying a £50 set of the models after taking me there for the first time - the atmosphere was that infectious. It was completely out of character. Getting home and painting our models on my birthday was one of the few times we really bonded.

I'll never understand why we don't have an analogue photography store like this. I'm sure there are more of us than Warhammer fanatics, and we're just as enthusiastic.
I don't see Lomo places as counting - being boutiques, essentially - somewhere to pop into after Starbucks and the vintage fashion shop. I'm talking about a serious place for serious people... with a lighthearted and welcoming atmosphere.

I wish the business headed APUG members could make something like this happen.

Steve Smith · Jan 12, 2013

benjiboy said:
That's it folks,Jessops ceased trading and closed their doors for the last time last night.

I thought that was last night. This morning our shop had the windows and doors covered up with red paper and a sign on the door saying they had ceased trading.

R.Gould said:
If only I had the time, I am too busy with my photography business

That is good.

batwister said:
We all know the staff in Jessops couldn't tell anyone anything about photography.

Some of them could.

Steve.

railwayman3 · Jan 12, 2013

batwister said:
We all know the staff in Jessops couldn't tell anyone anything about photography.

That's rather harsh, given that there are likely many hard-working people who are going to lose their jobs in the next week or two.

There's good and bad staff in any organisation, but, like-it-or-not, the fact is that Jessop have been a "digital store" for quite some years. The management chose way for the company and, if staff (and young staff in particular, who may never have used film) have not been trained in analogue, you can't blame the staff.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 12, 2013

i never bought anything at jessops, because theynever offered anything worth while for a darkroomworker, as a very early adopterof the digital craze. i won't miss them.more business for better retailers.

pentaxuser · Jan 12, 2013

As someone said on another analogue site, called FADU and with a lot of members in the U.K. it's the speed with which this happened that seems strange. It is just after Christmas when such a chain might have expected to have done enough business to allow a review and yet it has gone from administration about a week ago to all stores closed yesterday.

Even Comet in the U.K. was able to give about 2 months notice of closure and under U.K. law the company has to have a 90 day consultation period with its workforce during which it has to pay its employees so why not sell stock and conduct an orderly closure?

There seems something strange in the way it has gone over the cliff at this speed. More to the whole end game than meets the eye I suspect but what that might be I have no idea. A great shame for all its employees. Losing your job with no notice is bad enough at any time but just after Christmas has to be one of the worst times

pentaxuser

Ian Grant · Jan 12, 2013

My experience was they were quite mediocre then under Tom Brookes became very good, I'd always used trade suppliers in Birmingham but coinciding with a change in job suddenly found my loaca; store could fill all mt needs at the same proces. Yes I did have to explain to the manager of my local store that they coul supply 5x4 film, he told me it had been discontinued years earlier. After that they were good for anything but O moved abroad when I used them again all that had changed.

Ian

Ian Grant · Jan 12, 2013

pentaxuser said:
As someone said on another analogue site, called FADU and with a lot of members in the U.K. it's the speed with which this happened that seems strange. It is just after Christmas when such a chain might have expected to have done enough business to allow a review and yet it has gone from administration about a week ago to all stores closed yesterday.

Even Comet in the U.K. was able to give about 2 months notice of closure and under U.K. law the company has to have a 90 day consultation period with its workforce during which it has to pay its employees so why not sell stock and conduct an orderly closure?

There seems something strange in the way it has gone over the cliff at this speed. More to the whole end game than meets the eye I suspect but what that might be I have no idea. A great shame for all its employees. Losing your job with no notice is bad enough at any time but just after Christmas has to be one of the worst times

pentaxuser

Don't forget they escaped by the skin of their teeth in 2009, it's their suppliers who said enoungh is enouigh. The last management team made thingseven worse, they tried to follow the Dixons model, but Dixon's had also sold reasonable HI Fi.

Ian

batwister · Jan 12, 2013

railwayman3 said:
That's rather harsh, given that there are likely many hard-working people who are going to lose their jobs in the next week or two.

There's good and bad staff in any organisation, but, like-it-or-not, the fact is that Jessop have been a "digital store" for quite some years. The management chose way for the company and, if staff (and young staff in particular, who may never have used film) have not been trained in analogue, you can't blame the staff.

People generally like to learn about what they're buying face to face, if the human facility to do so is there? When people can only get their information online, they buy online.
I don't doubt the staff were hard working, but with jobs like gold dust, they will work hard at any job they can get. The problem I see is that the work didn't require sharing knowledge and enthusing their zombie-like customers.

Why have people have given up on sharing information in person? It would be interesting to see the number of in store returns vs online, because I feel their famous full refund policy is fueled by how ill-informed their in store customers are.

This relating to the job problem; being a graduate myself and looking for any kind of work at the minute, I enquired about several jobs in person today. I spoke to one manager who was very friendly and talkative, who told me I have to look for vacancies online. "But I'm right in front of you?" At another place down the road from me, a member of staff told me "not at the moment". Looking on the direct.gov website tonight - what do you know - they have vacancies. You cannot give people your CV anymore. CVs are narrowed down with keywording and job hunting like the lottery. All because people have let automation beat their wits.

I still feel speaking to people in person is the only way you can get anything. But Christ, you really have to drag it out of them.

MattKing · Jan 12, 2013

batwister said:
People generally like to learn about what they're buying face to face, if the human facility to do so is there? When people can only get their information online, they buy online.

It may be different in the UK, but over here the photographic stores have the same problem as the electronics stores.

People go to the local stores to see, handle and learn about things, and then buy them from someone else through the internet.

Except where their stores cut their margins to compete with the low overhead internet sellers, in which case they don't make money on the sales.

Ian Grant · Jan 13, 2013

Actually this happened before the Internet as well. The big mail order companies hit the small photo shops quite badly we tend to forget this.

Ian

Steve Smith · Jan 13, 2013

That's true to a point but the stores also have an internet presence and before that, mail order advertisements.

e.g. Dixons used to advertise everywhere and you could buy by mail order.

Steve.

railwayman3 · Jan 13, 2013

Ian Grant said:
Actually this happened before the Internet as well. The big mail order companies hit the small photo shops quite badly we tend to forget this.

Ian

Jessops did a lot of very efficient mail order....I recall their large folded lists in tiny print, which seemed to include every conceivable product from every manufacturer, many of which also undercut the list prices which the small shops charged. As you say, other big companies seemed to follow (Jacobs comes to mind? And some selling just film with discounts for bulk buys.).

perkeleellinen · Jan 13, 2013

Way before the internet I was buying most of my film mail order in packs of 10

Alan Johnson · Jan 13, 2013

I don't think it's the end of DSLR sales on the UK high street, Currys still sell them but they probably won't carry small stocks of film like Jessops did.

MortyCapp · Jan 13, 2013

Here in Putney they were very capable and delivered excellent service. Shame.

Brac · Jan 14, 2013

I can remember Jessops when it was just one small and very busy shop in Leicester (originally a chemist). Then they opened bigger premises in the city and carried a vast stock which was also available mail order. They used to print a catalogue which had so much stuff listed you needed a magnifying glass to read the small print. I made a special trip there in the late 1970's to buy my Vivitar enlarger. Later they expanded and got taken over by someone else and gradually it went all down hill. I feel sorry for the staff but I don't think the stores will be much missed. However, as others have said, by buying up and closing so many independents they have reduced choice for everyone.

As for their stock, apparently they are recalling it to a central warehouse where it will be offered back to the supplying companies, where possible. This contrasts with Comet where they had closing down sales where stuff gradually got cheaper until each branch was closed.

Jessops in Administration

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