What a scam. . .

This county is huge, 1 million people or so. You'd think there would be more camera stores than just ritz and this place. I can see how this place would struggle to survive, but you could at least be reasonable with the prices.

Small stores buy their stuff from wholesale distributors and various other sources. Their cost was probably way higher than ebay retail prices. Some small stores have pretty good markups, but others have surprisingly small margins given their prices. This is where the B&H's and Wal-Marts of the world kill small businesses. They can buy in insane quantities or strong arm suppliers to get lower wholesale prices...and ultimately they can probably often offer lower retail prices than a small business's wholesale price.

My father is an independent pharmacist...he can't even set his own prices. The insurance companies tell him what to sell his prescriptions for...margins are a joke, and forget competing with Wal-Mart's prices...that would mean paying to be in business. I think he has the upper hand in service though.

I guess it would be rough in a situation like that. I know since the film era has depleted, they have lost a lot of business. They used to be the only place around here to carry most of that stuff.