Calumet

Jessops Struggling… Again…

Camera retailer Jessops is close to going into administration putting around 2,000 jobs at risk, according to reports.

The struggling retailer could go into administration as early as the end of today, and is poised to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as the administrator. Jessops, which operates more than 200 stores, has had a rocky few years. It managed to avoid administration in 2009 by securing a debt for equity swap with its lenders HSBC, following a series of profit warnings and debt fuelled over-expansion. Equity investors, who had seen Jessops’ share price fall from 155p at flotation in 2004 to penny-stock status, were wiped out as the bank pushed through a restructuring, which included writing off £34m of debt in exchange for a 47pc stake.

“Photographic chain Jessops is set to shut down 15 stores early this year” – Seems to be spreading all over twitter at the moment.  Shame to say.. but the writing really was on the wall.  Hand up how many times you have used the failing camera store.  But.. don’t feel guilty, the service they offered was just not up to scratch. Poor staff training and ill-stocked stores could be blamed as a whole host of other things.

The problem is this, although many people did not use Jessops to BUY the stuff, they did use it as a library to browse and get hands on time with the products before buying them elsewhere. Great for online retailers like WEX and Park Cameras who undoubtedly sold to Jessops customers who found the product in a Jessops store, yet bought cheaper online.

We have to be careful here, there is already a huge problem with people not being able to get hands on time with this gear and Jessops leaving us will make it even worse. In Birmingham we have the great chaps at Calumet, but, they are only stocking a limited range. Calumet make their own kit and only stock some lights. They won’t let you unbox a camera to play with. These are all things that happen for a reason due to the strange way and consumer pressure for low margins. (Calumet policy would be to do so, but has not always happened for me – edited)

It is all coming together in a way that produces a lack of trust in the camera retailers. People are STILL buying cameras, they are just choosing to buy in new places. However, it is not all doom and gloom. Some camera stores with shop fronts are doing well. These tend to be smaller shops though. Park Cameras would be one that has a great reputation, and I for one have always had a great time dealing with Calumet. Especially the Birmingham and Drummond Street stores.

But, Jessops are going to be a big loss on the high street. Love them or loathe them. It was a place where many people – Such as I , bought into the markets with first camera and such. With Jessops being such a household name, it only looks bad for what really is an industry on the move upwards.  Photography is current, it’s cool, we have more range and choice than ever on the market place in the way of manufacturers. There are some amazing products coming though and , to be honest. It is a really cool time.  So, Why are the retailers getting it so wrong ?? Why are there not cameras stores pop up on street corners ??  It will be so much harder for these companies to get gear into people’s hand without people like Jessops, Calmuet, Park etc.. Both the manufacturer and the consumers want this.  The old problem of, I want to look at it on the street street, yet buy it online.

Instagram was sold for silly amounts of money, and I would love to have some explain or try to show to me that Photography world wide is in decline. It is not.. yet.. Jessops is going. Jacobs is gone. Lord only know why Snappy Snaps is open in Coventry. But maybe that is more a point of Coventry. But still… Reducing the access to all this new cool gear the companies like Sigma, Nikon, FujiFilm are giving us is bad for everyone. It really is.

I guess in my head, it works like this. If I want to know about a camera, lens, or other bit of gear. These days I google it and search about for it online. Asking peers or searching twitter and the like. If I was near a camera shop I might pop in, but, I have my self have not been in camera shop for months. And when I had to it was to pick something up super last moment that I could not get online.  Before that, it was the Calumet open days that had been my only reason all year to go into a camera store. Quite shocking indeed.  How many of you buy photographic magazines even ? How many of you used to by them ? Again.. a few years ago one would have picked up a magazine, checked out what was going on, and popped into a shop once a while to check things for you own needs. Now, twitter and direct link to WEX is the most common place.  Maybe you had seen some superstar photographer doing some workshop thing on youtube or something. Either way, these things are changing, and fast.

Who as a consumer should we be trusting?  Where should we be putting your money. Jessops clearly never sorted this out but, maybe it was the size of the company was the downfall? I just don’t know.  It would be interesting to get some feedback. What are the buying habits? Do people really prefer buying online from an online store or is it just easier and less hassle ?  I simply could not and would not want to spend so much money with seeing or holding a camera or lens !

I hate to say it, but Jessops had it wrong, sad indeed, but it looks like Costa can open up more stores in the place for us photographers to feed our other addictions.  And on other news… How are the High Street Photography portrait photography companies doing ??

Statement released by PwC to Amateur Photographer: – Reposted from AP

The Jessop Group Limited – in administration (“Jessops or the Company”) ??Edward Williams, Rob Hunt and Matthew Hammond of PwC were appointed joint?administrators of The Jessop Group Limited on 9 January 2013.??Jessops is a major high- street retailer of photographic equipment and growing on line business.

Turnover in the year to 31 December 2012 was £236m and Jessops operated from 192 stores with around 2000 employees throughout the UK. It has a well-known brand, strong reputation for service?and a significant national footprint.??However, its core marketplace has seen a significant decline in 2012 and forecasts for 2013 indicate that this decline would continue.

In addition, the position deteriorated in the run up to Christmas as a result of reducing confidence in UK retail. Despite additional funding being made available to the company by the funders, this has meant that Jessops has not generated the profits it had planned with a consequent impact on its funding needs. This was exacerbated by a credit squeeze in the supplier?base.

??Rob Hunt, joint administrator and partner, PwC said:??”Over the last few days the directors, funders and key suppliers have been in discussions as regards additional consensual financial support for the business. However these discussions have not been successful.

In light of these irreconcilable differences the directors decided to appoint administrators and we were appointed earlier today.??

“Our most pressing task is to review the Company’s financial position and hold discussions with its principal stakeholders to see if the business can be preserved. Trading in the stores is hoped to continue today but is critically dependent on these ongoing discussions. However, in the current economic climate it is inevitable that there will be store closures.” ??

Finally, at present Jessops is not in a position to honour customer vouchers or to accept returned goods. ??Ends   ??