Publication: PMA Magazine - Connecting the Imaging Communities
Publication Date: 01-NOV-07
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Wareham, Ian
Article Excerpt
Lomography, televisions, cameraphones, and software may not save a specialty store. They can, however, become niches of opportunity that not only set a store apart, but also diversify profits.
Changing retail environment
"We can't remain a specialist camera shop. There will have to be changes," says Wolfgang Drahtschmid, photo department manager of Foto-Video Sauter. "How we are to transform the shop will be the great theme of the next few years. We will have to build specialization and move toward becoming a multimedia shop."
Foto-Video Sauter is based in Munich, Germany, and faces many dilemmas and conundrums other specialty stores are facing in Europe and around the world.
"Retail is dead in the center of Munich; 10 shops have gone in the last 10 years," explains Drahtschmid. If anything, the situation is worse than that. In Munich, at least six shops have closed doors in the last 2 years; and another three stores were still in business, but about to close.
Remaining an independent
Drahtschmid believes Sauter is the largest independent photo shop in Bavaria. The selling space comprises 1,400 square meters covering two floors. From the main entrance, an endless sea of sales shelving and gondolas stretches...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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