Jessops not stocking Sigma lenses

gingerjon

gingerjon

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Anyone know how long or for what reason this has been official policy?

Sigma lenses are, according to the manager of the branch I went into today, only available in one or two of the largest Jessops stores in London and if you want one via Jessops it's a 4 week order to get it in. A quick check online seems to back up that Sigma is only available via special order.

So the choice via Jessops now appears to be: your own-brand lens (Nikon, Canon, Sony) or Tamron.
 
It's been like this for well over a year with Jessops and Sigma. Occasionally they will list Sigma lenses on the internet shop at silly prices, but 9/10 it never seems to have ever been in-stock or available.
 
I think that Sigma would not give Jessops any credit.
 
Newly refurbished store in Birmingham has a load... None of the interesting ones (f1.4s or 120-300s) but they are there.
 
gingerjon said:
Anyone know how long or for what reason this has been official policy?
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It goes back to the point a when it looked as if Jessops were about to go tits up, quite a few suppliers pulled their credit line (meaning they would have to pay up front, in cash for any stock), and Sigma was one of them.

All the Sigma stock they held in branch was sold off, some of it at silly low prices.

whiteflyer said:
Actually I've found Jacobs to be a set of T*****S,,they won't even price match the store price with their own website.
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Really? I got them to beat the lowest price on CPB for a teleconverter today, it was a bit of a struggle mind you, but the lad in the Glasgow branch was happy enough to phone and try his best to get me the discount :thumbs:
 
As flash in the pan has said, a few years ago when Jessops was having cash flow problems, Sigma decided to pull all credit lines from them and said that any stock must be paid for. This turned out to be a bit of a problem as Jessops was going through a tough restructuring period where they were closing and revamping stores.

Jessops decided that they didn't need Sigma so sold off any stock they have, and them jumped in with Tamron who took over from most of the sigma deals (70-300 and the like).

The way jessops is run is not brilliant. When you have to wait up to 4 weeks to get stock, its not really ideal and they are not exact ally cheap, however they have changed their markets, they are going all out for the consumer point and shoot end, which does yield them higher margins than SLR bodies.
 
I use Jacobs Digital on London Road in Leicester. They have an excellent stock of Sigma lenses, or can get what you want in around 3 days. They have always price matched for me and I rate them very highly.

Andy
 
Thanks for the answers. I vaguely remember something now about Pentax taking a similar line to Sigma with the result that Jessops don't stock them either. Given that Pentax effectively now only really have consumer/enthusiast DSLRs that seems to be a bit cutting nose to spite face but no matter.

I've got the Sigma lens I was looking for via Amazon instead (I'm not sure where my nearest Jacobs actually is and the nearest independent is a decent shop but with diminishing numbers of lenses available.) No cheaper than anywhere else but fast, guaranteed delivery.
 
I just poped into my local Jessops and they had loads of Sigma lens on display.... Ok so more Branded or Tamron lens but still lots of sigma there.
 
asphotographymk said:
I just poped into my local Jessops and they had loads of Sigma lens on display
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Are you telling me that a local Jessops manager might not have a flying clue what his store policy is or that their stock control might be so poor that when he was fiddling with his computer telling me how long I'd have to wait that he might have just been winging it?!

You know ... you might just be right. :D

Incidentally, I don't want to be too down on Jessops. I've always found that the staff in the Strand store seem to know what they're doing and have even recommended other camera stores if they don't think Jessops can really help. As for some of the others though ...
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Really? I got them to beat the lowest price on CPB for a teleconverter today, it was a bit of a struggle mind you, but the lad in the Glasgow branch was happy enough to phone and try his best to get me the discount :thumbs:
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was that when you had to tie him to a chair and pour petrol over him until he gave in? :lol:
 
well...i went to a jessops store today(sorry) and heard 3 things:

1) Digirev shipments will incur import charges and you wont be able to claim them back
2) Panny 14mm pancake wont work on EPL2
3) Jessops dont seem to stock any bloody cameras...35 in the warehouse, none if the flaming shop

a little more staff training required.

that said, the prices in jessops are now much better, and the stores are improving in layout and choice(if they stock stuff)
 
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