Is starting a camera store a good business idea?
I was thinking about starting a camera store in my town. There's no other camera store within reasonable driving distance here. The town is about 20k people and there's a university here with a photography degree program, plus several local photography businesses and lots of middle class soccer moms.
I want to deal with mostly the hobbyist, student and pro markets. I don't want to carry any point and shoots except for maybe a few bridge cameras and waterproof cameras. Most of the other point and shoots can be had from WalMart and I don't want to compete with WalMart. I want to carry a full range of interchangeable lens cameras and DSLRs plus lenses, accessories, studio accessories, etc. Right now if you want these things in our town you have to order online. I think being able to pop into a store and get them right away would be a draw. I don't plan on selling medium format.
Some things I was wondering about was if I should hire a repair person and offer repairs and how do you become a licensed deal of Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Panasonic and Olympus. I see most stores display they are a "licensed retailer". Does that cost money and how much? Another thing is should I stick with only digital or sell film too? What about these lomography cameras and polaroids? Could that market be profitable?
Only if you are passionate about it!
if you are passionate about it and make your store unique, interesting to go to, and have a lot of special features that other stores don't have (maybe dark rooms people can use! And all kinds of extra supplies, neeat crazy stuff you can't find anywhere)
your store will be really successful
its all about the neat crazy stuff you can't find anywhere for miles.
go here. This is a really neat store to visit because they have vintage cameras, vintage supplies, and film but the photo developing is terrible there: :p only do photo developing if you think you can
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=camera+store+in+2nd+street+san+francisco&fb=1&gl=us&hq=camera+store&hnear=0x8085807be2ac57ab:0x46f779f2b9a40ac0, 2nd+St,+San+Francisco,+CA&cid=1252962224740352746&ei=kKOAT4uZFovYiQLEw8SpAw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q4gkwAA
Lots of competition out there, especially on line. Can you compete with Amazon for example on price? If not, I'd think twice about it. You'll get lots of lookers I'm sure but buyers are a different matter.
What's your business plan? Do you have plenty of cash to make this happen? What about buying your stock of cameras, tripods, lighting, etc., lots of money there.
I hate to be negative toward you. My story: I worked(1960's) in discount stores that carried quality Canon, & Nikon's in entry level models. We of course carried everything below that including box cameras. The profit structure was cost plus 20%. Hardly enough to run a business. You have the same situation with your Walmart's, etc. Where I worked they made up the lose of profit from cameras on Fine Jewelry, even costume jewelry has a tremendous mark up.
If I were you I would take a "Sunday" drive for a couple of hours to neighboring towns. And see how many camera shops there are. You won't find many if any! Why? Because they can't make a living. With the likes of Amazon, B&H Photo, and Adorama, etc. B&H Photo was where I went for pro equipment. But I had to be careful. At that time the prices where low, but the shipping was outrageous. Now it is the reverse, which may help you a bit.
I would also consider hiring a business company to investigate the "viability" of a camera store! It may be money down the drain but on the other hand it is not a lifetime of savings!
Try to research this really good, do not be fast with decision. Find out some information about how much it is to run your own business, how many people from your town buy online, try to simulate that you have a shop and then try to form the prices of the camera. There's a lot of things to do before you decide if running a company is a good and smart choice.