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Is there money to be made as a small camera shop?


10 years 2 months ago #348395 by Oscar Cohen
I have been thinking about opening up a small camera shop that would sell and rent camera gear.  I have about $175,000 saved, with another $68,000 that I could pull from other areas and with my credit figured I could take a loan out for $100,000 to $150,000.  I think this would put me just shy of $400,000, which I was thinking should be enough to get some nice inventory going. 

1. With this sort of volume would I be able to buy wholesale from Nikon, Canon, Sony?
2. Is there enough money to make profits these days assuming I run a lean overhead?
3. Would you buy from a small start up store vs B&H, Adorama and Amazon if the price was the same?

My wife is nervous, and I promised her I would really research this before making any spending decisions.  So any help would be great appreciated. 

Oscar
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10 years 2 months ago #348407 by Joves
The short answer is no. For one reason is volume. The only way you make money in the business now is online through volume sales. You also have to be able to buy your stock in volume as well to get any discounting. I am not speking of buying say 10 of each series of camera, but 100s of them to see any cut in the wholesale price. This also goes for lenses, and other gear.
Now here is a caveat to this. IF and that is a big if, you live in a tourist area with high traffic volume, and that has an affluent base, then with the right location you could maybe make it. This would be mostly for impulse buys, and these would be someone coming there to a wild life refuge, and wanting to buy or rent a long lens, or them not having a nice wide lens. I know that the one camera store in Sedona does just that type of business. They actually make more off of the ancillary gear that they sell, and not the cameras, and lenses. Things like batteries, media cards, bags, vests, and so on. You would still need to have an online presence as well though. But in reality you would still be operating on the edge for the most part, because your whole business would rely on impulse buyers. And unfortunately they are a dying breed when it comes to gear in this economy. Hate to tell you this, but it is the truth as I see it.
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10 years 2 months ago #348421 by icepics
Almost every local camera store in my area has gone out of business or gone thru bankruptcy. That includes 5 independent stores, and one tri-state chain that is down from at least a dozen stores in three cities - 5 of those locations were in my city - to only two locations left.

You could find business info. for photographers on ASMP's site but that probably isn't related to opening a shop. You'd probably need to find resources in your area, chamber of commerce etc. I would think the overhead of retail rental space alone would be prohibitive for a small business, at least in my area it's high. Would you be able to compete with the big box stores on prices? How much would you have to make beyond rent, cost of inventory, etc. to pay off that much in loans and start to make a profit?

Seems like this could risk losing your life savings. Maybe as the economy continues to slowly improve it could be feasible at some point. 
Sharon
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10 years 2 months ago #348423 by Oscar Cohen
Thank you both for the detailed answers.  This gives me some perspective to consider.  I have the sensation to start a business and I would like to do something with photography, perhaps retail won't be that answer.  Now I'm thinking about the rental side of things, if I got 10-15 of each of the main Nikon, Canon and Sony bodies and perhaps 5 of the popular lenses, that could be a nice starting point.  But then I have to leverage the internet and hope that I can compete for SEO against some of the larger companies.  I could go with Google Adwords, but I have heard competitors will click on your ads just to run up your budget. 

So much to consider.
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10 years 2 months ago #348545 by Richard Taylor
Store - no way to much risk

Rental shop - I would try, but in moderation and see what happens with few items, then if successful, invest more into company
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10 years 2 months ago #348673 by garyrhook
Honestly, I have a great deal of concern for you. You seem to not be aware of the current market, trends in retail shops vs. online sales, and what is happening to the photographic industry in general. For the kind of outlay you are considering I would strongly encourage you to do a great deal more research into this plan. You have far too much to lose, and frankly, a much greater chance of losing everything instead of doing well.

In other words, there's a reason so many camera / photography businesses have closed doors in the last decade.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: icepics
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10 years 2 months ago #348757 by Glen Martin
I hate to bust your bubble, but Gary is so correct.  I get it, be your own boss.  But this industry isn't what it was 10 years ago.  Keep your money under your mattress and just enjoy photography.  I don't see camera store as a remotely safe investment. 
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10 years 2 months ago #348777 by effron

garyrhook wrote: Honestly, I have a great deal of concern for you. You seem to not be aware of the current market, trends in retail shops vs. online sales, and what is happening to the photographic industry in general. For the kind of outlay you are considering I would strongly encourage you to do a great deal more research into this plan. You have far too much to lose, and frankly, a much greater chance of losing everything instead of doing well.

In other words, there's a reason so many camera / photography businesses have closed doors in the last decade.


I agree, but its NOT just photography based business. Any startup business is a huge risk at present, and its for every reason you can think of, but especially the oppressive and stupid gubberment at EVERY level that over regulates, forces you to pay too much for useless help, persecutes you if you have the gall or luck to turn a profit and so on. Save your money, there's a good chance you will need it in the future....
Why so serious?
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10 years 2 months ago #348835 by Joves
You are welcome Oscar.
I see that you are down in Mobile which gets some tourism. I do not know how long you have lived there, but if you know of a lot of out of the way places, and good places to go shooting, you might consider a photo tour business. I have not been down that way since the 70s, but I do remember that there were many great places I saw as I zipped by on the freeway. I would see what kind of liability insurance you might need, and your main investment would be a vehicle that can carry a few people. Even if it is just to get people to Wild Life Refuges, or shooting abandoned architecture in the area, within reason. Some people pay to go to those out of the way places that are not listed in the brochures. This way you get to socialize with fellow photographers, shoot, and the best part get paid to do it.
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10 years 2 months ago #348893 by Vahrenkamp
:agree:  there is some very good advice here.  
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10 years 2 months ago #348907 by Shadowfixer1
We have lost every camera store in Atlanta except for 2. That should tell you all you need to know.
www.betterphoto.com/?ramshots
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10 years 2 months ago #349175 by TedReichner
I'm all for getting out there and doing your thing, but this is poor odds for success if you ask me.  You would need ALOT more than $400,000 to compete with the big boys in this market.  Save your money
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10 years 2 months ago #349203 by Fiesta!
Don't walk, but run from this idea, I'm sorry to say, chances are you would loose all your money.  Your wife is correct to be concerned.  The ship for making money in the camera selling industry, has set sail long ago.  The only ones that are surviving are the big boys, then again I just heard that B&H sales for last year were down 30%.  So if that is true, then even the big boys are doing to well. 
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10 years 2 months ago #349275 by Ian Stone
I wouldn't risk it 
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10 years 2 months ago #349391 by Angel13
Lots of great stuff in this thread so I won't repeat it but I agree with almost all of it. Personally I try to shop at local mom and pop stores intentionally to help keep them in business. But I'm just one person and, sadly, don't have much of an impact. I do this for everything, not just camera gear. But small businesses are still going out of business everywhere so I'm clearly sort of rare. The amount of money you are talking about is A LOT of money to spend on a super risky venture. Don't do it. :(
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