Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Scott, I think a couple of trends are going on. First, many of the professionals are not stringers in DC so someone else is buying the equipment and they are purchasing it someplace else. Also, Canon professional provides a great service to the pro's in DC, like Nikon used to. The equipment is loaned out if you need something, equipment is brought up to spec, anything the pro needs. Therefore there is no need to purchase things in DC Nikon used to do this when Don Nelson ran the Nikon pro service in DC. Another trend is that DC is largely a company town. What I am implying is that other people's money buys most equipment. This means PO's and least cost supplier; sometimes the manufacturer itself. What is going on are deals similar to what BD has with Olympus. Olympus wants their stuff out and presented in a good light as well as super beta tested. They provide whole outfits at no charge to select individuals. Nikon and Canon do the same thing. I know at the time of the 96 Olympics Canon was making some amazing offers to newspapers and magazines for complete outfits suitable for equipping a whole newsroom. Amazing being a 1v, 14mm, 17-35, 70-200, 300 2.8, and 500 mm for about five grand a set in quantities. (The exact amount is off as it has been a few years but you get the point.) What I find amazing is the number of truly good stores in the Carolina's. A part of the world thought of as depressed and suffering from job loss and poor wages in the mills or pork factories has more stores that carry amazing stuff than I can find in Georgia. Don dorysrus@mindspring.com -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Scott McLoughlin Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 1:36 PM To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: [Leica] Let's Hold the Future at Bay a Tad Longer As the nation's capital and news center, I imagine that Wash, DC must have one of the denser populations of photographers in the country. And the economic demographic of the surrounding burbs is reasonably impressive. So why is the retail situation so bleak? And in particular, why is Leica so poorly represented? I can understand NYC, but it sounds like the Boston area is kicking DC's butt in this regard as well. It's kinda weird to me. Then again, it's a weird city :-) Scott Ken Firestone wrote: >On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 13:39:49 -0400, B. D. Colen <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote: > > >>The two spots I remember from D.C. - and I'm talking '66-'80 - were a >>camera store (can't remember the name, but I do remember that they got a >>fair amount of my pretty limited income)with both new and used equipment >>on the south side of Pennsylvania Ave NW between 17th and 18th Sts NW - >>and, I believe in that same block, same side, on the second or third >>floor, Images, a black and white custom lab started by the guy who was >>LBJ's WH photographer. >> >> > >BD, >The two shops were probably Potomac Photo, and National Camera Repair. >National Camera Repair started out in a little hole in the wall on the >north side of Penn. Ave, and grew over time, eventually moving across >the street. Charlie Scheer, the owner, fixed most of the cameras for >Washington Photojournalists at one time or another. > >Potomac Photo had the distinction of handling the photofinishing for >Jackie Kennedy when she lived down the street. > >LBJ's photographer, Yochi Okamoto, opened a photo lab as BD mentioned >after he retired from the government. Before his White House stint he >worked for USIA. > >Other camera stores, all long gone from DC included several around 7th >and Penn, NW, several along 14th st and Bakers in what is now called >Tenleytown. > > > _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information