Jessops NOT going bust, but.........

Flash In The Pan

Flash In The Pan

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I think there might be something about to happen. Just back from the main branch in Glasgow which, as I've menntioned previously had a large "pro" department downstairs. Note I had - when I went in today the doors to the lower sales floor were closed with a "staff only" sign on them.

A quick look around and I found the new "pro" section - one shelving unit with a handful of lenses (£999 for a Nikon 17-55, anyone? :cautious:), two or three bodies, a couple of lightstands and a few studio heads and basically that was it.

There were also far fewer staff than previously- I wonder if we might see another raft of store closures? Glasgow city centre has three Jessops branches all within walking distance, which strikes me as two more than they really need in the current climate....
 
Maybe they are just re-decorating?
 
still 3 stores in walking distance is a bit um silly...
 
PsiFox said:
Maybe they are just re-decorating?
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Guy I spoke to said it was "closed" :shrug: If they were redecorating they'd have been better starting in the main shop, it's a tip :shake:

33L said:
still 3 stores in walking distance is a bit um silly...
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Up until the last raft of store closures it was four - three of which were in the same street and if it wasn't for the hill you'd have been able see them all at once :LOL:
 
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33L said:
still 3 stores in walking distance is a bit um silly...
Click to expand...


Na it's an uber management marketing decision to trap toggers with overflowing wallets.:wacky:
 
They need to close stores, and I think that was the what the last incentive was about.

Basically, stores in each area were put up against each other in a premiership league style stand-off - every store battling eachother at least once.

The way it was worked was there were 5 different statistics - digital printing, digital storage, hardware, add ons, and something else. And it was done on a 5 point thing.

so, week 1, store a was up against store b.
store a had sold a lot of camera with loads of accessories and memory cards, but store b had done a lot of printing and the other statistic that has slipped my mind atm.
therefore, that week it would be 3-2 to store a.
everyone's points would get added up, and the 1st store after the end of the period would win £5000 to share between staff, 2nd would get £3000, and 3rd got £2000.

Basically, to separate the men from the boys - good idea i guess.
We, btw, came first in our area :D
 
Also feeding into this is an apparent strange stock position in terms of canon stuff. When I got my 450D pre christmas I used the £25.00 voucher for a semi-hard case which they needed to order in. A month later and still no case. I have also been looking around for a nifty 50mm so today I went in, canceled the case and came out with one of the two 50mm lenses they had in stock (Merryhill Dudley), whilst there I couldent help but notice that the shelves were verging on being bare. I'm just glad i've converted my credit to a tangible asset thats in my pocket given the current economic climate
 
Was having a wee look at their Directors and almost all the companies they have Directorships with are either dissolved or high risk. Maybe that's where the problem is, bad top management? But this is purely speculation. It's interesting to note that the Directors remuneration increased quite considerably over the last few years though yet staff payroll remained quite steady. Greedy buggers! lol ;)

Had a quick look over their group accounts and to be honest I'm getting the feeling they look worse on paper than they actually are but the accounts only run to 2007 before the jobby hit the fan in the UK. The initial problem appears to be recently their cost of sales are not going up in proportion with their turnover and depreciation has also risen sharply. They've been getting substantial financing recently so fingers crossed that cash injection in 2007 helped them pull through 2008!

I really hope nothing bad happens to them, I've always liked Jessops and with a payroll of over £35M it would be a terrible thing in the photography industry I reckon :(


EDIT: Forgot to add that I'm more than happy to spend an extra few bob to get my stuff from Jessops - did so recently with my Sigma 10-20mm. Ok, it's good to make a saving and buy cheaper from Hong Kong etc but I'd rather keep my money in this country and reckon if more did the same then we wouldn't have to worry about losing the high street shops.
 
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I think their positive christmas figure whilst encouraging won't make up for the clag they were in earlier in the year or cover them for the coming months. I think we will see big changes ahead for Jessops.
 
Maybe everyone in the country could buy a £1 share. I'm sure £60,943,912 would help them out! ;)
 
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