Why are Adorama and B&H closed on Saturday?

First off I know it's their Sabbath and I understand that. But these guys are smart cookies, why not have NON Jewish people working the shops during the weekend if need be. I can hardly imagine the money that they lose from that one day being closed. Forget about the internet sales that don't take place. The walk in traffic on a weekend in one of the largest cities in the world has got to be staggering.

Speaking of internet sales, that is one thing I don't understand. Last I checked the internet is un-manned. No one needs to operate the "internet", so why close down sales? Leave the site open for sales and just process them on Sunday or Monday? No business lost from internet at that point. See my point?

Comments?

I completely agree and unless the owners of B&H and Adorama answer your question themselves i don't think you're going to get the correct answer. We all can guess an answer but who knows what the real reason is....well maybe someone does know. i am curious too.

If you search on Google maps for synagogues in Manhattan you'd see how many are in that area; apparently being closed on Saturdays is what works in their neighborhood. Any business that's closed on Saturday or Sunday probably processes orders and ships on Monday.

Many businesses like art galleries, antique shops/dealers, etc. are closed on Mondays; many types of businesses are closed on at least one of those three days. Does everything need to be open 24/7?? - businesses can set weekend hours if they choose. If you don't like their policies you don't have to support them and make purchases from them.

They are Hasidic Jews which are very orthodox to say the least. They close on the Sabbath and all holidays including Passover which is coming up. I have no problem with them doing what they believe. Most of the time you have 6 days in which to order things.

In observing the Sabbath, you are not only proscribed from working yourself, but also from causing others to work. And, Icepics and Joves make the point.

Are these companies owned by the same people or family rather?

Frost Photography wrote: Are these companies owned by the same people or family rather?

No. Check this thread. www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...owned-by-same-family

As for the internet issue, this quote from the B&H web site regarding the upcoming holiday.
"B&H will be closed Friday April 6th in observance of Passover and will reopen on Sunday April 15th at 10:00AM EDT.
Orders must be placed by 4:00PM EDT on Thursday April 5th in order to ship before the Holiday.
Orders placed after this time will ship when we reopen.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patronage."
Therefore you can order goods but the "work" of shipping them will have to wait.
Yes, they probably do lose some money to other retailers but they are true to their faith.

If you are familiar with the Chik-fil-A restaurants, you will see that they are closed every Sunday. When he founded the first restaurant many years ago, Truett Cathy did it for two reasons--one, he didn't believe in working on Sunday, and two, he believed that his employees needed one day when they didn't have to work.

For years, marketing experts have told him how much money he is "losing" on Sundays. He just grins and points to his revenues and profits.

Adorama and B&H both have a great service. Following faith for anyone I think it very important.

I have done business with Adorama for years and love the way that they have always taken care of me. I am not Jewish myself, but I respect their beliefs. I had a Hindi individual raise sand with me once because my studio was closed on Christmas.

Its amusing, there are times it seems no one can be pleased. If these places were open round the clock, there is a large element of our society that would accuse them being greedy, money grubbers at any cost, corporate dogs.
Personally, I have purchased quite a lot of gear from both houses, and have never been in such a rush their closings have caused me anguish......

When did these stores open doors?

B&H 1973
Adorama 1976

The Gardener wrote: First off I know it's their Sabbath and I understand that. But these guys are smart cookies, why not have NON Jewish people working the shops during the weekend if need be. I can hardly imagine the money that they lose from that one day being closed. Forget about the internet sales that don't take place. The walk in traffic on a weekend in one of the largest cities in the world has got to be staggering.

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 would also take on add 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, I guess it's unusual to find that there really are still people who consider their spiritual duty to be more important than squeezing money 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:


online.wsj.com/article_email/SB109269113...3o5yubXSHaK6Jm4.html


www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/technology/09...tml?_r=1&oref=slogin

I hope this helps

Frost Photography wrote: Are these companies owned by the same people or family rather?

No; although I believe there may be some connection or other via marriage, however, in terms of commerce, no relationship.

But you may find this interesting: search.babylon.com/web/Leica+freedom+tra...babsrc=browsersearch