Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On a similar note, Lemon Camera, which has been one of the two official Leica importers in Japan was terminated. I presume that there were political conflicts. The situation is as follows: Nihon Siber Hegner has been a Leica importer for number of years, selling Leica cameras through authorised dealers. The prices were high, and service was, ahem, so-so. Then, Lemon Camera came in, importing grey-market Leicas, and quickly became the highest volume Leica seller in Japan (in the world?) Leica then gave Lemon Camera an official dealer status, allowing it to sell Leica products at its premise only, not to be in direct competition with Nihon Siber Hegner-affiliated dealers. Lemon had its technicians trained in Solmes (or NJ?) and received supplies of parts to service the current models in-house as well, though it appears that they had an official, but unenforced policy that they only repaired cameras which were sold by Lemon itself. Lemon did take away lots of sales from other dealers in Japan. The prices were 20% lower, and availability was good. You could walk into Lemon and walk out with just about any current Leica products (or from its superb collection of rare Leicas as well) However, suddenly, about a few months ago, their prices were jacked up to be in line with those of other dealers, with a note saying that there is a discount for "members." Then, there was an announcement that they will no longer carry Leica products as of later this spring. TomA probably knows much more than I, but I suspect that Lemon may have violated its contract with Leica in some ways. I believe Lemon was allowed its dealer status under a very strict, limited terms, and their huge success may have led to some conflict with other dealers with much clout (like Yodobashi Camera which is rumoured to be a major Leica shareholder). Ken Iisaka kiisaka@pacbell.net http://home.pacbell.net/kiisaka Still lost in Mill Valley in Marin County, California - ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 6:48 AM Subject: [Leica] Leica in Canada > For those living in Canada, you may be interested to know that while > Kindermann will no longer be the Leica distributers in Canada, they will > still own their parts inventory, and retain their repair staff. So for non > warranty work it will still be possible to have Leica's serviced at > Kindermann. > > Dan C. > >