Every now and then, back in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in the early days of this century, I used to stop by the local Best Buy, a so-called big-box store, to visit the camera department and have a look around at what was on offer. There was a whole camera section, with a guy in a vest wandering around in it, whose charge it was to look after any customers or lookee-loos like me. If he wasn't busy, I'd chat him up, to sort of get a handle on what was popular and what people were buying. I couldn't say how many cameras were on display, but it was closer to a hundred than to zero, I'd bet.
So I was in the Walmart in Watkins Glen the other evening, looking for zip-ties. The first employee I encountered, near the door, a somewhat decrepit old man with a white beard, knew exactly where they were. His directions were precise. I went right to them.
Zip-ties in hand (to affix Butters' tick collar to the inside of his regular collar), I gravitated to an aperture in the back wall that was emblazoned "PHOTO" in large cutout letters. Inside was a largely empty room with a three-sided rectangle of countertop in the middle. No one in there.
Emerging again, I found a passing employee and asked him if they still sold cameras.
"Oh, sure," he said, agreeably, and took me to the section of aisle you see above. Encased in glass were two lower-end Canon DSLRs with kit zooms (distant descendants of the original Canon EOS Digital Rebel of 21 years ago), four Kodaks (Kodaks?), and a camcorder. As you can see, to the left was a section with instant cameras (about three times as large as the "Cameras" case) and to the right, a GoPro display.
"That all?" I asked.
Saying nothing, he fished a large smartphone out of his packet and brandished it at me. "Any more," he said, "these take really good pictures."
I gestured toward the Cameras case. "So do you sell many of these?"
"Well...these are for people who are really serious about their photography." He sounded kind of skeptical, as if to say, no one is that serious about their photography.
I asked him if whether they used to have more. "Oh, yeah," he said. "We used to have a whole aisle." Then he added, "that's been a while."
He gave me permission to take this picture, and as he walked away I whipped out...well, my iPhone.
Mike
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Featured Comments from:
Jeff1000: "After reading your blog I looked to see what’s available at the Best Buy in Salt Lake City (where I’m currently situated). They have the full array of Nikon stuff: Z8s, Z9s, Z6IIs, Z7IIs, and pretty much all the Z lenses. Sony and Canon stuff too. Maybe that Watkins Glen store is an outlier?"
Mike replies: The store in Watkins was a Walmart. Maybe I should check a Best Buy—there is one down near Corning which is about 45 minutes from me. Could be it's just a Best Buy / Walmart difference, and NOT a sign of the times! That would be encouraging. I added a question mark to the title of this post!
E.: "Same desolation here (Southern Europe). At the two biggest appliance stores in town (no dedicated photo shops left, 800k inhabitants) all you can find is, exactly, the same picture you posted, Mike. Well, except that, last time I checked (three weeks ago), in one of them there were only three models on display. Globalisation makes shops look unsettlingly alike...."
John Krumm: "I really appreciate Best Buy. When everyone is moving online for electronics, it's nice to be able to touch and try stuff. I bought my washer there and paid them to deliver it. I bought my cheap, surprisingly good Roku TV there. They installed my wife's new stereo with Apple Airplay in her 2000 Miata, in their three-bay install garage. I see elderly people getting their laptops serviced. I hope they stick around. I don't think I've bought a camera from them, but I might."
Alan: "My wife is Thai and when over there a few years ago we visited the local shopping centre and I was amazed to see three or four (I forget how many but certainly three and I think another one slightly further away) camera shops all of which seemed to have in stock just about every camera I could think of and a very good selection of lenses too. They also had a large physical paper catalogue from which they insisted they could get anything they didn't have in stock 'quickly.' To rub salt into the wounds of a jealous westerner who lives in a town with no dedicated camera shops and only a meagre selection at the local Currys (electrical retailer) each shop was well staffed with helpful people. This was all a few years ago but my wife is there at the moment and reports that those shops are still there."
Tam: "Blog Poster: 'I went to the Walmart in a census-designated-place in upstate NY with a population of less than 2k and wow, the camera section in modern big box stores has really shriveled up.' Commenter: 'Well here in Austin, Texas, a state capital city of a million people and a regional...if not national...hub for creatives, we have three camera stores!' Ah, internet. Don't you ever go changing on me. ;-) "
I’m writing this note as I have a few minutes to spare after I just loaded a couple dozen prints into my vehicle to run to my local branch library where they’ll exhibit my pics now through the end of July. My county library system also recently hired me to give a talk on getting the most out of any camera (iphiones included) where we had a full house, and my audience even took notes! People are seriously interested in better photos. BTW, support your local Camera Store! If you have one, that is.
Posted by: Glenn Allenspach | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 10:20 AM
I keep getting more "nice camera" comments in the past year, but it's more like "what a curiosity". Most seem somewhat envious but they don't know why. I do see fewer "camera carriers" on every trip as phones improve. The tide is obviously going out, but I'm used to being considered weird...
I am impressed by the phone images, but I find them terrible tools to use as cameras. Apparently they were designed for talking or something? It's an Internet terminal for me. As a camera, the ergonomics suck and the screen gets washed out. I've bought accessories (ShutterGrip) but it's a kludge. But why worry - I used 4 "cameras" on my last trip. Just grab something and shoot!
Posted by: Bruce Bordner | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 12:16 PM
In the theatre last week and as the performance was about to begin, the ushers held up boards with icons of cameras and mobile phones crossed out indicating no photography and switch off your phone. Man in the row behind passed a comment regarding the camera icon saying “Do people actually have cameras anymore?”
I resisted the temptation to mention that I’d just splashed a frankly ludicrous amount of money on a Q3.
He wouldn’t have understood…
Posted by: Alan | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 12:34 PM
The Best Buy in San Francisco has a ton of the latest cameras + some lenses in stock.
Posted by: Jeff Kott | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 12:42 PM
The West Los Angeles Best Buy stocks less real cameras than they used to, but still has from 2 to 4 models each from Canon, Fuji, Sony, and Nikon on display. If Best Buy were smart---and they have to be to survive---they would craftily adjust the stock based on local buying habits and trends.
Posted by: Keith B | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 01:18 PM
I live in a sleepy little town in the middle of Texas but we are still able to take advantage of three (or more) fully dedicated camera stores. I read your post this morning after having been to our biggest camera shop, Precision Camera, yesterday afternoon. In addition to full lines of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras were healthy inventories of Leica gear, Hasselblad cameras and lenses and medium format Fuji stuff. The refrigerated cases at the rear of the store still stock FILM. Not just 35mm color neg. but also transparency films --- and in medium format sizes as well. The biggest draw on many days are cases with about sixty linear feet of recent, used digital cameras and lenses. On the other side of the store is lighting. Lots and lots of lighting as well as a nicely set up demo area for playing with cool stuff. Like a wide range of Profoto stuff.
My purchase for the day was minimal. Just some lens cleaning stuff....Oh, and a nice 35mm Zeiss lens for the M cameras.
I expect the pessimists here will chime in and ask if anyone was in the store.... And I would have to respond that even customers who've shopped there for 38 years had to "take a number" and wait their turn. The place was packed with a range of photographers from 18 years old on up. I might have been the oldest one there. It felt like business was brisk and profitable. Expensive cameras and lenses were flying off the shelf.
I just have one question: What possessed you to camera shop at a Walmart?
Cameras are still alive and well in Austin, Texas. No question.
Posted by: kirk | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 02:08 PM
I bet over the years they sold many generations of cameras that were never used and just sat in dresser drawers. Maybe people were always more interested in buying new toys than in using them.
I guess phones appeal because they really are quite easy to use. There's one button to press and you don't have to do anything to upload the file onto a computer, it's already on one. And for most people, that's the end of it. I dislike my phone and the notion of being accessible 24/7 seems insane to me, but obviously I'm an exception.
As for cameras, are sales of all "hobby" devices decreasing? I wonder if this is a general trend.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 03:00 PM
I don't know. CameraMall, my excellent local camera store here in Ann Arbor, is very well stocked with all the new cameras/lenses/accessories and is almost always busy whenever I go there. They seem to be thriving. They match BH and Amazon prices, have great helpful staff, and run frequent educational events. I think BestBuy benefited for a long time from the death of local camera stores, but in my town, where they have a great camera store, those who want to buy "real" cameras have moved over to the place with great service and selection.
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 03:20 PM
As an additional data-point, the Eau Claire, WI Best Buy has a nice selection of Nikon & Canon & Sony. Don't remember about Walmart, though they did stock Fuji C41 film the last time I was there (a couple of months ago) at reasonable prices.
Posted by: William Lewis | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 03:47 PM
Hi Mike,
A few weeks ago I was in the local Best Buy looking to buy a small camera bag. They only had three bags on display. I walked over to where there used to be a large table with dozens of cameras models on display. The table is gone now, only a few camera were to be seen.
I live in a town where there used to be a few camera stores. They're all closed now.
I think the writing is on the wall about digital cameras as we've known it. About five or six years ago, cameras started to disappears from familly gathering and parties. And I rarely see someone with a camera on the street these days.
Recently, I've been trying to sell used photo equipment. Not even an inquiry. It used to be that everything would be sold within a week or two. Something's going on...
Posted by: Andre Moreau | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 04:16 PM
Your experience might also reflect online versus in-store buying preferences for today’s customers. Both Walmart and Best Buy offer fairly generous online purchase options for digital cameras. Big Box stores are generally moving toward smaller retail footprints. The Pandemic speeded up this ongoing shift.
https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/best-buy-target-macys-other-big-box-chains-shift-to-small-retail-formats.html#:~:text=Consumer%20goods%20retailer%20Best%20Buy,in%20post%2Dpandemic%20consumer%20habits.
Posted by: Jeff | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 04:37 PM
The Best Buy in Henrietta has a great selection of cameras and lenses. Of course, it’s near RIT, which still has a pretty good photography program.
Posted by: Mark Rouleau | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 06:24 PM
Mike, I apologize for misreading your blog for Best Buy instead of Walmart. I was in line at a Blue Beacon truck wash, in Salt Lake City, trying to get my rig washed. The point is that I was reading your blog, trying to respond while researching the SLC Best Buy, talking to my dispatcher, and keeping the truck moving in line. Also, I wasn’t situated at the Best Buy in SLC, just Salt Lake City in general. Egads!
Posted by: Jeff1000 | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 06:55 PM
Well, yes, it is no doubt a sign of the times that your local Walmart has only a few serious cameras for sale where it used to have a dedicated aisle, BUT, per the commenters, the times that it's a sign of may not be so easy to grasp. I guess vloggers shop at Best Buy? Seriously, I think it's time for me to give up trying to understand the camera industry and retail stores and think about other things instead.
Posted by: robert e | Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 11:34 PM
Walmart also (apparently) stopped selling alarm clocks because "people use their phones and no one uses an alarm clock," at least according to what the clerk told me when I was looking for an alarm clock last month. It never crossed my mind to look for cameras at Walmart (or Target), and I haven't been to a Best Buy in several years, but there are two camera stores here in the Seattle area (that I know of) and al least the one I've patronized seems to be doing just fine, with an excellent collection of used and new gear. On the other hand, good luck finding a selection of music cds anywhere but online these days.
Posted by: Ken | Friday, 07 June 2024 at 12:07 AM
Hi Mike,
The same language but different.
The British meaning of "to chat someone up" is loaded with sexual connotations.
Example, Bill saw a beautiful girl in the shop (store), he tried to chat her up but she wasn't interested.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/chat-up
Posted by: Stephen | Friday, 07 June 2024 at 05:50 AM
Wow! Fun to know that Austin, Texas is now a "national hub for creatives.."
Oh. Now I remember. That's why we live here. :-)
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 07 June 2024 at 05:34 PM
Actually fir the upcoming malta trip, other than my z9 24-400, I will bring a fuji instant camera (sdcard plus instant film) and a 360 x4 (kind of action camera) plus my iphone. Hence except for that z9 odd ball (try downgrade but the viewfinder is just not there), this is not too bad as a sign of the time.
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Sunday, 09 June 2024 at 08:53 AM
How long has it been since you could get a camera REPAIRED? I have a Nikon FG that will never shoot again, because the parts don't exist, assuming everyone who could work on them isn't dead.
Posted by: Antibubba | Sunday, 09 June 2024 at 11:32 AM