Do you pay more to support a good local store?

I am just curious if most of you buy locally or do you order online? I am fortunate to have a fantastic photography store. Bedford's has 5 locations I believe and they have very helpful knowledgable staff. However, they are pricey. I bought my 7D and Sigma 150-500OS online and saved about $600 total. I really want to support them and buy all my gear but that kind of savings just can't be turned down. I do love the store. they sponsor all sorts of contests and have really good seminars frequently. The last one I went to was an all day Artie Morris seminar and it was fantastic. The canon reps were there and gave us all sorts of Canon stuff,,,bags, card holders, EOS fanny packs, and had all of their new gear there to play around with.

However, I spent an hour in there today looking at Manfrotto tripods and heads. They really listened to my needs, gear, and showed my literaly dozens of tripod/head combos until i found exactly what I wanted. I got the manfrotto 322rc2 and Promaster SytemPRO 2N. I was surpised I got a promaster but hey i liked it better than the others. Its a little heavy but thats ok. I also got a heck of a deal on it as well. I would have never been able to test all of these tripods out anywhere else. The manager made sure i got exactly what i needed and helped me more than I can believe. I will buy from them from now on.

Anyway, I am curious if you are willing to pay more for local stores.

I try to. I bought a 7D from them this week. Paid more than I would have if I had ordered it through B&H or Adorama, about $300 more. Why? This is one of the few things of any real monetary value that I have actually bought from them. However, I am in there 2-3 times per week looking at everything, testing things out, trying things out.

So why would I pay more? If they go out of business, the closest place for me to go and look at gear would be 2 hours away. And last time I was in that store, it was so disorganized and dirty that I wouldn't have felt comfortable buying from there. Additionally, these guys know me by name and are more than willing to help me out with things and give me pointers. Heck, they're letting me BORROW a Lensbaby this weekend to try it out and get them some shots to show potential customers.

So, yeah, every once in a while, I'll swallow hard and pay the extra. The other option isn't very appealing to me.

Within reason, yes. I like my local store. I want them there. I will not, however, screw myself by draining my bank account to do so.

Yes.

Purposely bought my last two major lenses there and my 5D Mark II.
It's very nice to have a store locally to browse and get some advanced gear there. I'm willing to pay a premium for that.

Most of my stuff is still from Adorama though...

To be honest..I don't.
I would examine the gear, but buy them online. Cheaper online, and tax free and free shipping.
But occasionally, I would look to see if open-box or reduced items, and will scoop them up too. But the bottom line, I tend to shop online.

Nope. No reason to spend more money.

If they will price match, sure! I will spend an extra $x or $xx amount locally but if it's in the hundreds then they are just ripping you off.

Nope.


Sorry, I guess, but B&H and Adorama didn't get giant over night... they earned their place on top.

There's a lof of things I try to buy locally to support the little guys, but I'm a little guy too. I can't pay an extra $300 for something just because they can't afford to match prices.

If electronics were like produce or something and my extra money meant a higher quality, or fresher product I might be able to justify it but spend extra money for no reason isn't something I can do.

photoguy6405 wrote in post #10967367
Within reason, yes. I like my local store. I want them there. I will not, however, screw myself by draining my bank account to do so.

^^^ This ^^^

I need my brick & mortar store for emergencies and Oh Sh*t moments but I can't (and won't) keep them in business single-handedly.

I won't buy lenses there---too much markup. Bodies are about the same everywhere so I buy them locally.

The majority of my gear I get online. It really is a tight economy.

I do believe in scratching my "gotta have it right this minute, can't wait" itch with a couple of good local stores so I bought a 40D and 7D locally along with a couple of my favorite lenses and a variety of filters, a couple of bags and a monopod. I also steer people to them for advice and to get their hands on the equipment they are interested in. I figure it's up to the store to make a sale once they are in the building.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #10967471
^^^ This ^^^

I need my brick & mortar store for emergencies and Oh Sh*t moments but I can't (and won't) keep them in business single-handedly.

I totally agree with Jay on this, and will give the store "first right of refusal" for price matching.

On several ocassions they have either matched the price or come in just slightly higher in which case I did not mind the local purchase. My one brick and mortar seems to be getting pretty savvy to the web pricing because I'm starting to notice pricing that isn't too far apart.

With the one local store I was interested in the new Sigma 17-50OS, Henrys and a few other bigger name local places had it for $899. Aden camera had it for $800, the local shop said they would do it for $780- pretty good but still a "special order" so no refunds and I ended up deciding not to buy it. I emailed them again regarding the Sigma 50mm and told them that I had previously inquired about the Sigma 17-50 but have now got a 5D and want a 50mm and Aden has it for $569. I waited a couple days then called them and asked them to email me back with a price, in the email I told they said $589 cash or $599 C/C. So I'm still shopping around for the best deal, a new one would be nice for the warranty but after tax it's like $200 more then a used copy...

Brick and mortar stores are going to continue fading.

We don't have local stores in my little town, except for a couple chains (Best Buy, Wolf, Office depot, Staples), and I do enjoy hanging out in those stores (mostly Best Buy), but I purchase things at the best price I can get, and it's usually substantial savings to go online.

My first Rebel was from Best Buy and they matched Amazon the day I bought it, but at some point they wouldn't do that for me anymore, and I ended up buying a 50D online from Beach Camera.

I just got an Olympus Pen E-P1 online, but got it from a store in Kentucky called Murphy's. They are a small local chain in Louisville, I think. Might be regional. I got a killer deal and saved almost 200 bucks.

When you order out of state you avoid sales tax, and most camera gear ships for free. That alone saves you a hundred bucks on any body, sometimes more.

I've ordered a lot from Beach Camera, and they've never let me down once. Always free shipping, never pay sales tax, and the products always arrived earlier than expected.

Note: I've only been taking photos seriously for about a year and a half, and my knowledge of equipment has passed everyone at the local Wolf Camera store and Best Buy. They can't answer any questions I have other than pricing.

I always want to help customers because I feel sorry for them, not knowing much.

I hate it when I hear customers or salespeople making a big deal out of megapixels. Makes me want to say, "that argument ended about three years ago when everything hit six or eight. You're good now. Any of these cameras have enough MP at this point."