Google| Subject | Re: Colonial Photo & Hobby |
| From | Tony Cooper |
| Date | 04/14/2014 23:47 (04/14/2014 17:47) |
| Message-ID | <p5kok9l5g0p7h4ci045d0rig6i8qe3s0lv@4ax.com> |
| Client | |
| Newsgroups | rec.photo.digital |
| Follows | Sandman |
| Followups | nospam (4h & 23m) > Tony Cooper Sandman (4h & 48m) |
On 14 Apr 2014 18:30:42 GMT, Sandman <mr@sandman.net>wrote:
SandmanYes, Frank. I know him well. You should see his photographs of British trains he's taken over the years. I think he does better financially at swap meets than at Colonial. He has several tables at every swap meet in town.
From recommendation from Tony, I went to Colonial Photo and Hobby, just to check it out. Was a really small store with one half hobby and the other photo-related stuff. Pretty cramped, but really nice british salesman that I talked to.
Prices weren't really good though, and they had a very small number of cameras on the shelves, so hard to browse around really.Small number of cameras? I don't know what stores you're used to, but I don't think their selection is "small". They are primarily into Nikon and Canon, but that's the market here. Between the two camera clubs I belong to, I know of only two people who shoot with a Sony, and I don't know what models they have.
Again, I don't know what you are used to. At Best Buy, they have a lot of cameras on open shelves with security cables. You can handle the cameras without sales assistance at Best Buy. At Colonial, all the cameras are behind the counter or in the counter showcase, so you have to have a sales person bring them out if you want to handle them.
Someone who is used to stores like Adorama or B&H would consider Colonial to be pretty dinky, but compared to the other stores in the Central Florida area they are respectable enough in size and selection. Had I sent you to Harmon Photo (the other store in town), you would have thought Colonial to be huge in comparison.
Colonial is very unique as a store with half being devoted to hobby products and half to photography. Every time I'm in there, both sides seem to be doing a fairly good business. I don't know that the two markets feed each other, but it does help with the overhead. There's actually more competition in town from other model train and RC cars, boats, and airplanes than there is in cameras above the point & shoot group.
No one there had any knowledge or experience with the Sony A7Frank shoots Nikon.
so I wasn't able to get good feedback, but since the prices weren't better than in Sweden, I suppose that's ok.Colonial isn't noted for competitive pricing. If Colonial has a "deal" on a camera or a lens, you can bet that it's a factory-sponsored special. If you checked the prices on camera bags at all, they're all priced at full retail.
-- Tony Cooper - Orlando FL
04/14/2014-
