Above is Samy's main store in Los Angeles.
Above is the Samy's store in Pasadena, California
Now...this sales rep and camera expert is Timothy Stallard and he came to California after working in England and was soon going to move to Florida. His accent seemed more like Australian as he said" Good day Mate".
Hi Pentaxian friends.
I didn't want to talk about it, but I had my camera bag, with equipment, disappear the weekend of PMA 2010. In fact, I never made it to the PMA as I was so bummed out. Litle by little, I am replacing what was in it. It might take me a year or more.
A few weeks ago I needed to get a new camera bag to replace the stolen one. I drove to Pasadena to see what Samy's had to offer and to check prices. I went to the store knowing that my first and last experience with Samy's had not been a good one. The last time, the sales person was rude and would only entertain conversations about Canon and Nikon. Needless to say, I didn't purchase anything and swore never to come back.
My experience was completely different this time around. Timothy was very friendly, and gave me all the attention I needed. We looked at several camera bags and he even walked next door to the warehouse to get a model that was not in the store. I wanted a bag that could carry a laptop plus one body, four lenses, flash and other equipment. I purchased the Tamrac 3385. He gave me the same price as B&H Photo mail order price, actually $10.00 less.
We then talked about Pentax. His experience has been mostly with Pentax U.K. He said that the store he used to worked at had Pentax Reps coming to the store all the time. They would bring them out to lunch, and had all kind of perks for store sales people. Pentax would demonstrate all the new equipment and made sure all sales people were knowledgeable. He said that once Pentax stopped all of that and got rid of most of their sales reps, he and the other sales people gradually stopped pushing Pentax.
I suppose that other brands are still having sales reps. I also understand that Nikon and Canon have an enormous line of credit which allows stores to have bigger inventories on their shelves. On the flip side, when Ritz Camera went bankrupt, Nikon and Canon lost a lot of money because of that.In the world we live in, if your business is not part of the internet, you're not in business. We have seen so many brick & mortar stores going out of business these past few years. Unless they have a strong presence on the internet, camera stores are doomed. Most people go to camera stores to try the equipment but turn around and purchase the equipment on the internet. I think Pentax is doing the right thing and eventually all vendors, and buyers will deal through the internet only.
As for Samy's, they have a presence on the internet, but they need more sales people like Timothy if they are going to stick to brick and mortar stores and succeed. Timothy took the time to show me the camera bags, and in turn I purchased it that day instead of ordering it on the internet. Keep up the good work Timothy and good luck.
Email Samy's and let them know about Timothy. pasadena@samys.com
Thanks for reading,
Yvon Bourque
__/__\___\
[n___n_[*llllll*]
(o) )-(o) )-*-) )
My other hobby
I didn't want to talk about it, but I had my camera bag, with equipment, disappear the weekend of PMA 2010. In fact, I never made it to the PMA as I was so bummed out. Litle by little, I am replacing what was in it. It might take me a year or more.
A few weeks ago I needed to get a new camera bag to replace the stolen one. I drove to Pasadena to see what Samy's had to offer and to check prices. I went to the store knowing that my first and last experience with Samy's had not been a good one. The last time, the sales person was rude and would only entertain conversations about Canon and Nikon. Needless to say, I didn't purchase anything and swore never to come back.
My experience was completely different this time around. Timothy was very friendly, and gave me all the attention I needed. We looked at several camera bags and he even walked next door to the warehouse to get a model that was not in the store. I wanted a bag that could carry a laptop plus one body, four lenses, flash and other equipment. I purchased the Tamrac 3385. He gave me the same price as B&H Photo mail order price, actually $10.00 less.
I suppose that other brands are still having sales reps. I also understand that Nikon and Canon have an enormous line of credit which allows stores to have bigger inventories on their shelves. On the flip side, when Ritz Camera went bankrupt, Nikon and Canon lost a lot of money because of that.In the world we live in, if your business is not part of the internet, you're not in business. We have seen so many brick & mortar stores going out of business these past few years. Unless they have a strong presence on the internet, camera stores are doomed. Most people go to camera stores to try the equipment but turn around and purchase the equipment on the internet. I think Pentax is doing the right thing and eventually all vendors, and buyers will deal through the internet only.
As for Samy's, they have a presence on the internet, but they need more sales people like Timothy if they are going to stick to brick and mortar stores and succeed. Timothy took the time to show me the camera bags, and in turn I purchased it that day instead of ordering it on the internet. Keep up the good work Timothy and good luck.
Email Samy's and let them know about Timothy. pasadena@samys.com
Thanks for reading,
Yvon Bourque
__/__\___\
[n___n_[*llllll*]
(o) )-(o) )-*-) )
My other hobby
9 comments:
I have a love hate relationship with Samys. The Pasadena store is minutes from my home, so it is nice and convenient.. But it is true about 90% of the sales folks there. They are RUDE!. I have spent over 10K with them and they have for the most part treated me like dirt. I did purchase my D700 from them because of the no tax and sale and rebate I managed to get together, but for everything else, B&H for me.
Gosh i thought that rudeness was only here in Florida. There's a store called Photo and Hobby and the Sales People are pretty Much Nikon or Nothing. Sad to hear about your bag does that mean you lost the k7 what a bummer if so.
I walk into Ritz and Wolf cameras around here and they are also rude but there stores are also always empty...I wonder how they stay in business. Circuit City used to be the same way and look what happened to them. For me most of my stuff comes from Amazon or Ebay.
I'm sorry your bag got swiped. That sucks! At least now you have a great bag you can start over again with! I'm glad you gave Samys a second chance.. maybe you could let them know that they should be a little more polite. :) I like your Jeep diagram in your signature! very cool. What is that called.. binary art? Alternate number design? I'm sure theres a term.. lol... oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Nice to see Timothy get some kudos. I pretty much can't stand camera salesmen, but Timothy has twice been very helpful. He's a mellow and pretty much nice guy who seems to enjoy his work. Also, Samy's in Pasadena is generally speaking a more kind-hearted store than Samy's in mid-town.
For those of you that have been at Samy's Pasadena, and have been served by Timothy, send an email to Samy's and give kudos to Timothy.
pasadena@samys.com
Yvon, it sucks that you got your camera gear stolen; I hope it wasn't everything. Did you have it insured?
Us Brits also use "mate" a lot. The Australians copied it from us! :-D
Regarding camera stores, I was in Boston yesterday for a small Pentax meet-up and we stopped by Bromfield Camera, a classic store in the center of the city. I was trying out the Olympus E-PL1 and the salespeople, Bob and Kevin, were very interested in it. We chatted a while about mirrorless cameras, old manual film cameras they sell (they showed us an old Canon rangefinder with a 50mm f/1.2 lens)...and Pentax.
They used to carry Pentax until the Hoya buyout; then the sales reps disappeared, and they had to drop the brand. They still had used Pentax stuff, and maybe some random lens on a top shelf, but nothing new. Despite this, Kevin was up to date with what Pentax were doing and said they would carry them in a heartbeat if Pentax decided to return to brick and mortar stores.
I can recommend this particular family-owned store, and I'll be returning to purchase accessories whenever possible.
Miserere,
My k20d was in my bag, one SDM and the kit lens and three limited lesnes.I have no insurance on that. Oh well...mea culpa, mea culpa!
Yvon, That's terrible and I really feel for you. 3 Limited's. Awful.
I hear you about reps visiting the stores. It is still an important part of the business and they should find a way to service these locations. They still do it in Canada and it shows in the stores that I have visited.
Maybe they need to promote Timothy to sales trainer and have him change the company face to the public. It's what many stores need these days.
Yvon,
Sorry your bag got stolen, that SUCKS!!!!
I have that same bag, all in black, I LOVE IT! I wish it had a waist support for longer hikes (That and a place for my camelbak bladder for water!) but as an everyday around town bag it is the BEST!!!!!
Post a Comment