Some real world, first hand news...
Day before yesterday I went over to the local camera shop, Houston Camera Exchange, to pick up some bulk film cassettes. I was surprised to see how much analog things they had. Just a few years ago their analog materials were contained to one three foot wide, four or five shelf high fixture in the back corner of the store. They've expanded some and now their paper and chemicals are on two 4 or 5 foot long shelfs, and 5 or 6 shelfs high right when you walk in the front door. They had plenty of Ilford and Kodak chemicals, and plenty of paper as well. They also had a whole wall section for negative archival sheets.
In the back, they had not 1, but 2 display cases with analog cameras and lenses. I was surprised to see that they had FOUR Nikon F's in stock, and even had an S3. They had a ton of manual focus lenses across all brands as well. The other case had Pentax bodies and a few other brands. Just a couple years ago, I walked in with an F100 around my neck and was told "haven't seen one of those in here in a while"
Their film selection looked like it had been increased as well. It used to be kept in a small refrigerated unit, one that might hold a few sodas in front of the cash register at the grocery store, and now they had an entire display case full of film right up near the register.
I starting chatting with the employee and mentioned that it was good to see them back open again. Since the pandemic started, the only thing you were able to do was phone in an order and pick it up in the parking lot without getting out of your car. I also mentioned that it was nice to see the amount of used analog gear they had. The employee mentioned that as of recently, they have been selling analog gear almost more than digital. She stated that digital sales were down significantly and people just weren't trading in DSLR's and upgrading like they used to. She said that recently a customer brought his camera back to them for a CLA. When he bought it from them some years ago it was dirt cheap, and now they would have given him a few hundred more than what he paid for it just to be able to resell it.
Day before yesterday I went over to the local camera shop, Houston Camera Exchange, to pick up some bulk film cassettes. I was surprised to see how much analog things they had. Just a few years ago their analog materials were contained to one three foot wide, four or five shelf high fixture in the back corner of the store. They've expanded some and now their paper and chemicals are on two 4 or 5 foot long shelfs, and 5 or 6 shelfs high right when you walk in the front door. They had plenty of Ilford and Kodak chemicals, and plenty of paper as well. They also had a whole wall section for negative archival sheets.
In the back, they had not 1, but 2 display cases with analog cameras and lenses. I was surprised to see that they had FOUR Nikon F's in stock, and even had an S3. They had a ton of manual focus lenses across all brands as well. The other case had Pentax bodies and a few other brands. Just a couple years ago, I walked in with an F100 around my neck and was told "haven't seen one of those in here in a while"
Their film selection looked like it had been increased as well. It used to be kept in a small refrigerated unit, one that might hold a few sodas in front of the cash register at the grocery store, and now they had an entire display case full of film right up near the register.
I starting chatting with the employee and mentioned that it was good to see them back open again. Since the pandemic started, the only thing you were able to do was phone in an order and pick it up in the parking lot without getting out of your car. I also mentioned that it was nice to see the amount of used analog gear they had. The employee mentioned that as of recently, they have been selling analog gear almost more than digital. She stated that digital sales were down significantly and people just weren't trading in DSLR's and upgrading like they used to. She said that recently a customer brought his camera back to them for a CLA. When he bought it from them some years ago it was dirt cheap, and now they would have given him a few hundred more than what he paid for it just to be able to resell it.