J. Clarke
In article <2014031421424079001-savageduck1@REMOVESPAMmecom>, savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com says...

Savageduck
On 2014-03-15 04:29:33 +0000, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>said:

nospam
In article <lg0a9p1310a@news3.newsguy.com>, PeterN <peter.newnospam@verizon.net>wrote:

PeterN
BTW B&H gives superb personal service and advice.

nospam
b&h is an online seller, unless you happen to live near there.

PeterN
that does not mean they are not a brick & mortar store that gives excellent personal service and advice.

nospam
it means that the vast majority of their customers do not shop *in* the store.

Savageduck
They are a global store, making sales to many nations. I shop at B&H online, I receive their catalog several times a year, and I have yet to walk through their front door.

nospam
it's also a hassle to buy there because it's so crowded.

Savageduck
There is a reason they are so crowded. On top of being a comprehensive media oriented store, they are a destination for many. There are some folks who travel to NYC just to go to B&H.

nospam
they are also the exception. most stores are not anything at all like b&h, which is why most of them are gone.

Savageduck
They are also not just a camera store, so there is a wide diversification among their customers.

J. Clarke
Online they do the same as many other sellers, plug into the national distribution system--most of the non-photographic goods that they list are in the warehouses of Tech Data, Ingram, Merisel, and the like. They also maintain their own warehouse containing their inventory of photographic equipment. If you go into the store though you'll find that it is almost all photo/video related--their brick and mortar store, in other words, _is_ "just a camera store" if by "camera store" you mean film, video, cinema, digital, chemistry and the whole rest of the gamut.

Most cities had similar, if smaller stores at one time, that handled the professional needs of the local community--generally you could find what you wanted at Brandon's, in Jactsonville FL for example, for a price. The decline of film took away their bread-and-butter business and B&H beats just about everybody except the scammers on price, so the local pro-shops kind of went away.

I suspect that B&H's survival and success is a combination of having an easily accessible central location in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, maintaining a strong mail-order business throughout their existence, and earily recognition of the Web as a sales venue.