Why is BH closed on Saturday?

suecassidy wrote in post #13012188
I admire B&H for putting their religion first and business second. It isn't how I would do it, but I admire them for doing it and will always wait till they are open again to gladly do business with them.

Defiantly agree, all you need to do is plan a head.

BLD_007 wrote in post #13009653
I didn't realize it was their sabbath. Looks like adorama is closed on Saturday too. I wonder how much business they lose because of their different hours.

True we may lose on store business, but with website ordering UPS / FedEx don't pick up 'til Monday, so that isn't affected.
You can still place an order on a Saturday, we'll pack it Sunday and ship it to you Monday - and only charge your cc when we actually ship - just the same.

And of course, the store is open Sunday.

BLD_007 wrote in post #13009769
Sorta another question. Why are the two largest camera companies "BH/Adorama" Jewish? Is it just coincidence?

No, not really coincidence - http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=hKxGbNXt_Is

BLD_007 wrote in post #13009757
.....its annoying during the fall that they are closed so much.

Looking at my diary (these dates not yet confirmed by Adorama Management), but going on previous years I think the actual store will be closed:

early closing 28 September
29 & 30 September
early closing 12 October
13 - 21 October (but CS + 'phone / web ordering still available, 16 - 19 October I think)



At Adorama we do appreciate that our closing times can be inconvenient to some of our potential customers.
Adorama's owner is an observant orthodox Jewish gentleman, whose beliefs prohibit him - his family and his business - from operating on the Sabbath and on many of the religious holidays (which all begin an hour prior to sunset the evening before the day of the holiday, which is why we close early on Fridays).

We can't employ non-Jews here during those days, because to do so would involve the company conducting business - which is forbidden in Jewish Law.

Most holidays are actually only one or two days; two are week-long holidays. We do try to minimize inconvenience to our customers, by publicizing our closing dates well in advance.
After the holiday(s) end(s), we do reopen our sales and shipping departments as soon as possible in order to deal with the inevitable backlog of orders.
We also take on additional staff in the customer service, sales and shipping departments if necessary to help reduce backlogs and speed up the service to our customers.

In this era of 24-hour commerce which seems to take for granted that we all sleep with our i-phones under our pillows and work a relentless 60 or 70 hours a week, this is a special time for us to be with family and friends.
I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than making an honest buck out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.

Many businesses in the US and elsewhere in the world force employees to work on holidays when the time is better spent with their friends and families - or just relaxing by themselves

We are grateful for the understanding of our customers that this is an important element of our owner's value system. Perhaps the following links to articles in the Washington Post & the New York Times will help to make some sense of our closure policies:

http://online.wsj.com …NnlaJ3o5yubXSHa​K6Jm4.html


http://www.nytimes.com​/2006/01/09/te...=1&or​ef=slogin


BTW I'm only an email away for advice and / or after-sales support with any order from Adorama Camera: Helen@adorama.com

excellent post!

HelenOster wrote in post #13012424
True we may lose on store business, but with website ordering UPS / FedEx don't pick up 'til Monday, so that isn't affected.
You can still place an order on a Saturday, we'll pack it Sunday and ship it to you Monday - and only charge your cc when we actually ship - just the same.

And of course, the store is open Sunday.



No, not really coincidence - http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=hKxGbNXt_Is

Looking at my diary (these dates not yet confirmed by Adorama Management), but going on previous years I think the actual store will be closed:

early closing 28 September
29 & 30 September
early closing 12 October
13 - 21 October (but CS + 'phone / web ordering still available, 16 - 19 October I think)



At Adorama we do appreciate that our closing times can be inconvenient to some of our potential customers.
Adorama's owner is an observant orthodox Jewish gentleman, whose beliefs prohibit him - his family and his business - from operating on the Sabbath and on many of the religious holidays (which all begin an hour prior to sunset the evening before the day of the holiday, which is why we close early on Fridays).

We can't employ non-Jews here during those days, because to do so would involve the company conducting business - which is forbidden in Jewish Law.

Most holidays are actually only one or two days; two are week-long holidays. We do try to minimize inconvenience to our customers, by publicizing our closing dates well in advance.
After the holiday(s) end(s), we do reopen our sales and shipping departments as soon as possible in order to deal with the inevitable backlog of orders.
We also take on additional staff in the customer service, sales and shipping departments if necessary to help reduce backlogs and speed up the service to our customers.

In this era of 24-hour commerce which seems to take for granted that we all sleep with our i-phones under our pillows and work a relentless 60 or 70 hours a week, this is a special time for us to be with family and friends.
I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than making an honest buck out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.

Many businesses in the US and elsewhere in the world force employees to work on holidays when the time is better spent with their friends and families - or just relaxing by themselves

We are grateful for the understanding of our customers that this is an important element of our owner's value system. Perhaps the following links to articles in the Washington Post & the New York Times will help to make some sense of our closure policies:

http://online.wsj.com …NnlaJ3o5yubXSHa​K6Jm4.html


http://www.nytimes.com​/2006/01/09/te...=1&or​ef=slogin


BTW I'm only an email away for advice and / or after-sales support with any order from Adorama Camera: Helen@adorama.com

@Helen,

Great reply. Most people (especially New Yorkers) understand completely the reasons. I live 4 blocks from Adorama (a curse now that I am getting into Photography again) and the staff are incredible. Avi and Meirav have always taken time to show me whatever I wanted before buying and always very helpful including helping me save some money with rebates, etc.

I'd rather deal with people who know their stuff 6 days a week than the average salesperson at a local big box electronics retailer (that shall remain nameless buy rhymes with West Why) 7 days a week.

HelenOster wrote in post #13012424
In this era of 24-hour commerce which seems to take for granted that we all sleep with our i-phones under our pillows and work a relentless 60 or 70 hours a week, this is a special time for us to be with family and friends.

I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than making an honest buck out of our customers at every opportunity. I receive frequent emails from customers who state that in this day and age it is comforting to know there are people around who do not place money before all else.

It is definitely a different world. My father never picked up a hammer or paint brush on Sunday. Unlike myself it was his day of faith, family time and rest. I often wonder if people in general who had less 30 to 40 years ago were happier than in this era where the priority is accumulating wealth.

One of the reasons I shop at B&H is because I respect their refusal to sell out to commercial interests. There is a food restaurant chain here that does the same thing. They are closed on Sundays period. B&H is a hugely respected business that succeeds because they work hard, provide good value for money and put religious practices before commerce. I like that.

And btw, they have closings in the fall and also spring because several major Jewish holidays occur at that time.

Keep in mind, you can always browse their website, it's always open. You just can't place orders during the Sabbath. I think that's reasonable.

tstowe wrote in post #13009540
They are jewish. Saturday is their sabbath.

What do you mean by their sabbath? Do Christians have a sabbath on Tuesday? Muslims on Thursday?
You could say Jews have an Easter or New Year on different dates; ifcourse Greek Christians do not have Christmas on Dec.25. Chinese dont have New Year on Dec.31, etc.

Gomar wrote in post #13013697
What do you mean by their sabbath? Do Christians have a sabbath on Tuesday?

Really? Has it completely escaped your notice that most businesses close on Sunday? Do you honestly not understand that most people consider closing on Saturday to be an oddity?

Reminder: religious discussions are prohibited in POTN.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=50442
"Political or religious discussions and promotion of political or religious agendas or ideas in posts, signatures, images or avatars is prohibited. Promoting any 'ism or ideology unrelated to photography is not allowed."

Discussing opening times of businesses is not targeted by that rule of course. Last two posts are close.

I've always ordered from Beach Camera, and they do the same thing (observe Jewish holidays). I have no problem with it (except that time I really, really wanted that lens right away).

Hey, it's a free country. To each his own.

Beach Camera rocks. They always have good prices, they don't charge me for shipping or sales tax, and each time I've ordered from them the product comes MUCH sooner than they said it would.

They've got my business.

HelenOster wrote in post #13012424
No, not really coincidence - http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=hKxGbNXt_Is

Thank you for that link. I had no idea about that little piece of history.

mike_d wrote in post #13014101
Thank you for that link. I had no idea about that little piece of history.

Isn't it amazing? 'specially as the Leica boss wasn't even Jewish.

I go all goosey whenever I watch that video.

Agreed!!!

Pekka wrote in post #13013770
Reminder: religious discussions are prohibited in POTN.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=50442
"Political or religious discussions and promotion of political or religious agendas or ideas in posts, signatures, images or avatars is prohibited. Promoting any 'ism or ideology unrelated to photography is not allowed."

Discussing opening times of businesses is not targeted by that rule of course. Last two posts are close.

I probably opened a can of worms when I asked my first question, sorry.

I have enjoyed reading the replies. I knew the faith of BH/Adorama but I was not custom to their practice. Now that I understand why, I'm ok with it. What really threw me off was their website would not accept orders during that time too. But I'm in understanding now.

BLD_007 wrote in post #13014161
I probably opened a can of worms when I asked my first question, sorry.

I have enjoyed reading the replies. I knew the faith of BH/Adorama but I was not custom to their practice. Now that I understand why, I'm ok with it. What really threw me off was their website would not accept orders during that time too. But I'm in understanding now.

The Adorama site is able to accept orders on the Sabbath because we don't actually charge until an order is shipped. This of course raises a whole other set of problems to do with inventory control........