As you know since last year Sony changed their sales stagey in North America. They closed most of their US stores and today they announced they will close ALL(!) fourteen stores they have in Canada. Sony writes:
Over the next 6 to 8 weeks we are closing our Sony Stores in Canada and will redirect all of this business through our national network of Sony retailers, our online store … as well as through our Sony-trained Telesales team,
Source: Financial Post.
73 Responses
Lousy Canuck Poosies.
This is the final nail in the coffin for me. Time to sell the rest of my Sony gear and move over to Nikon. Sorry Sony, but I need a company that can actually support it’s customers.
What do you have for sale?
Can’t you buy cameras at a camera store? The Sony store is mostly home entertainment right.
x2
I’ve never seen a Nikon store have you.
Yeah almost as rare as the canon store
Nikon has a well oiled (no pun intended) recall system, that’s for sure. 🙂
Nikon is now planning to include a prepaid return label in the box with the camera. Now that’s customer service.
$50 says you do nothing of the sort. Selling all your gear because Sony closes it’s retail stores makes no sense whatsoever. Are you planning on buying your Nikon gear from a Nikon store?
NIKON doesn’t even have a single camera store in the United States yet there are Sony stores in every state LOLOLOLOL
Sony is closing it down because everyone is just buying cameras off amazon and other online camera stores. This is a very smart move for Sony because shopping is now officially done in the internet and not in the actual store itself.
Again, there’s not a single Nikon store here LOLOLOL
Sure Nikon has stores…Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Costco…some local camera shops, etc. Nikon has a dealer network. And Nikon has a name brand. That means that even in stores like Target and Walmart, where the sales people don’t know much, those sales people are far more likely to recommend a Nikon or Canon.
The name brand also means that if people are buying online, they will turn to the brand they know, because they can’t try out these other upstart brands in a live store.
Nikon has a much larger established customer base, most of whom will continue to look to Nikon for future purchases whether online or in brick and mortar stores.
At this point, Sony needs to get their cameras as much exposure (no pun intended) as possible to the general public. This closure is not helpful.
And BTW, many Sony stores have closed in the US as well…and some are closing in the future. Where I live the Sony store is closing…which is a shame…it’s a nice store.
More Nikon troll BS, go to the Nikon forum and preach your bull $hit to the choir. No one here is buying it.
Ask any Nikon owner who made the image sensor in his camera.
Hmmm do you think they know?
Nikon USA addresses disappearance of D750 from retailers!
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/4170563047/nikon-usa-addresses-disappearance-of-d750-from-retailers
Good to see the comment section on that site has the same lame trolling as this one, I was starting to think it is just this site just attracts the biggest assh0Ies.
laughing out loud out loud out loud out loud?? Poor neighbours.
I switched over to Nikon and couldn’t be happier.
Yes it is a shame Sony is only sold in sony stored and has never been sold anywhere else. It is also a shame everybody is still copying Apple without knowing why.
“This is the final nail in the coffin for me”
That may be the single most idiotic thing I have ever read on this forum.
I don’t think I’ve ever bought an electronic product at a brand store… I just use a local price aggregator and buy at the lowest price… And you guys?
Walk to the store and buy it because if anything is wrong I want to walk back to the store and tell them to give me a replacement / fix it. Then again I need the camera’s for work, maybe that makes a difference?
Online stores are the only future, it probably already is in the U.S.
Local camera stores are getting less and less, online few who specialize in professional customer support might still survive.
This decision has NOTHING to do with any camera business, it’s just a part of the radical change Sony is making at the moment.
They better invest that money in some marketing imho
It is sad, and any time any company closes stores it’s not a good sign.
Many still buy from local brick and mortar stores, esp. those who want to actually try something out before purchasing. And even many of those who buy online see the item in a store first. Sure, decades from now all shopping may be done online…but not now…and I think there will always be people who actually like the experience of shopping in a real store.
But here’s why it hurts Sony to not have their own stores, much more so than Canon or Nikon. Canon and Nikon are the established brands. They are in stores in the US from Best Buy to Costco to Walmart to Target, as well as local camera shops. Sony doesn’t have the same dealer network. Also, people know Canon and Nikon. If you are going to order online, and don’t get to try stuff out at the local store, you will turn to the established brands.
Right now only a tiny fraction of people even know about Sony cameras. Even less have actually held one. That’s not enough to keep Sony imaging division going. This closure of stores is not going to be helpful to establishing Sony in the camera market. It can still be done, but Sony had better have a heck of a marketing plan.
Only a tiny fraction know of Sony cameras? Hogwash.
Samsung just anounced thier new mirrorless camera with a 28mp apsc bsi…backside illuminated..sensor.
Sony still uses Exmor which is not bsi.
Although Sony still leads mirrorless sales Samsung is definitely on the charts and Sony should not ignore them like they did with thier tv division.
I still say Sony needs to use laea4 type technology to make Canikon glass fully compatable or Sony will lose thier mirrorless lead.
Samsung has even less presence in the market than Sony. And Samsung just closed their flagship London store.
Who will know about Samsung cameras? How will they find out? This is the question that Samsung has to answer, as well as Sony. You can have the greatest camera in the world, but if no one knows about it…
Company owned retail stores are not necessarily required, but help.
Stuff it concern troll, go pedal you Nikon BS somewhere else.
And Sony can buikd the greatest camera in the world but if it wont be cimpatable with Canikon glass…..
Samsung NX is not a serious system and it might never become one. Samsung doesn’t need it.
Many people (including me) believe NX is a playground to test important products: sensors, memory, Tizen system, materials and so on.
Essentially, car companies do the same thing. They take part in racing not to sell you an F1 or WRC car.
They might spend millions, but it is still a very effective way to develop engines, suspensions and materials.
If Sony depends on Canikon glass full compatibility for success, I see dark days for Sony when Canikon decides to jump seriously into the mirrorless market. What Sony needs to do is become attractive enough that people sell their equipment and buy only Sony stuff or 3rd party equipment that is fully compatible with Sony stuff.
I see even darker days for Sony if Canikon mirrorless support Canikon glass…and Sony don’t.
If Nikon or Canon release the same mount with no mirror it would kill sales. If they took the approach to not abandon the mount but update lenses as they went along to support faster AF with ASPDAF then it is game over for the sony revolution. You can have your cake and eat it too. Keep the glass, no adapters and cement yourself into the future. Call it mirrorless migration without all the downsides.
Sony mirrorless…Samsung mirrorless…Fuji, Panasonic..all the same…mirrorless cameras without the very best lens system to support them.
Only Canon and Nikon have that.
Sony has the huge advantage of an SLT focusing system in the form of the laea4 adaptor that can convert slt lenses to being compatabe with mirrorless..the same system would work for Nikon and Canon lenses…and no one else has a comparable system…if Sony were to use that advantage they could make thier mirrorless system the ONLY universal mirrorless system and it would for now be the only one compatable with Canikon glass..
In fact since Canikon does not have this system it is possible that E mount can be fully compatable with thier lenses while thier own mirrorless cameras are not?
Remember that in ILC cameras money is made on lenses and accessories, not on bodies. Body is only the “basis” which should make you buy other things.
For Sony customers the compatibility with other lenses is a great thing. For Sony it is a major issue.
The whole strategy is about selling as many A7 as possible and hoping that customers will move to Sony lenses, when they become available (and when they get bored by adapters and manual focusing). Will this work? Will Sony make a proper lineup of lenses before C&N release their FF MILCs with hundreds of lenses already available?
I think they won’t. I stayed with Nikon. I’m carrying around a larger camera and I’m loosing some nice features. But I might end up saving a lot of cash. 🙂
to save money you should sell your nikon and get an iphone
I really don’t get the humour in this comment.
Definitely, NX1 is one of the best mirrorless camera.
28mp BIS APSC + 15fps + 4k video + OLED touch display + 16-50 F2.0-2.8
Very slow focusing in even a slightly dim light
Samsung has no good lenses, all they can do is copy, who cares about that body? NX-1 is such an unoriginal Nikon copy in terms of button layout. But you are right, on the data sheet it sounds good. But thats typical Samsung. All just numbers.
Sounds just like comparing Sony to Canikon…the competition lurks above AND below.
Nikon has been making bodies with arguably great ergonomics for decades. Even if you don’t agree on the “greatness”, you must agree on the fact that millions of photographers are used to this layout.
Copying them is surely a bad idea…
It would be a lot better to make something original. Like the A7: grip too shallow and too short, most buttons in the wrong place (even the shutter release before A7II). Or the Oly M5 – a camera which is hardly usable without the extra grip. Oly HLD6 is one of the most popular camera accessories currently manufactured.
As for the lenses: Samsung doesn’t have many of them, which is a major issue of this system.
But what they have is almost always better than Sony’s counterpart. This includes the most popular lenses like the 16-50 cheap zoom and wide primes (16, 20, 30). Samsung also has a (decent) macro lens: 60/2.8. Sony only has a 30/3.5 which is:
a) not very good,
b) really too short for a practical macro usage.
Of course Samsung NX will never be a serious system, let alone an alternative to Sony E/FE. But what we got shows that they are doing their stuff with more attention. IMO they would be a better leader of the mirrorless revolution, if they started earlier and replaced Sony in this position.
This is completely wrong. The RX100 m2 has BSI.
Sony had this technology long before Samsung did.
You are correct in that Exmor R has been around for quite a while…bsi…
It performs better in smaller pixel sizes and high resolution as in cybershot cameras.
They have not yet put them in larger, lower resolution apsc and ff cameras where at the larger pixel size the greater cost of bsi does not deliver enough performance improvement to warrent the increased cost…therefore Sony continues to use Exmor.
Use of bsi should yield smaller pixels and increased sensitivity. .perhaps we will see it now that the competition is doing it first.
It would not surprise me if the current megapixel war will simply be use of BSI for ff and apsc cameras rather than any sort of new technology.
I do not know if Sony plans to use Back Side Illuminated sensors in this next round of cameras or not.
It will certainly enable them to keep the obsolete bayer array technology around a little longer
I have not seen a Sony Store in many years. What they need is more service centers across North America. Better support makes for more loyal customer base.
Meh, Canada is near recession, oil prices hit it hard. Small loss for Sony there.
But a big loss for those unfortunates who have just lost their jobs!
I’m sure they will find fruitful carriers at the grocery market or possibly a gas station. It’s about the same skill level as a sony store employee. Talking to anyone at the sony store was like talking to an enthusiastic 9 year old, endearing no doubt, but can’t take any info seriously.
Near recession? The economy grew 2.5% last year and is forecast to grow 2.3% this year not to mention that here in Vancouver every small old house costs 1 million dollars. You have no idea what you are talking about american.
Don’t see any problem if they close fysical stores, it costs money . It’s better to compare prices on the net and you can always return it if you don’t like it.
For Sony to have dedicated stores was never a business model that could succeed, owing to the way most people shop, and in the internet age they are pointless.
You get very few who know exactly what they want and make specific trips to buy it. Most tend to have an idea of their needs and want to compare models, brands, and prices. Having a ‘one brand shop’ makes that impossible.
I do feel very sad for those who worked there and those who owned the franchises (I believe some were of this type; forgive me if I’m mistaken), but the only curious thing is that it took so long to see them shut.
I’m sure every store will be replaced this year by a new mirrorless camera body.
Why is it bad news? Do any of these Sony stores keep at least one of each (photography gear) of anything they make sell? Amazon has it all. Down with all the Sony stores and the price fixing everywhere! Hire the Aussies to run the Sony sales division, worldwide!
People losing their jobs is rarely happy news…
This is how AMAZON works . There are like cancer ,spread all around the world . Just one gay get rich , this is big fish and the rest gonna be eaten by him .No place for making business in local market . When you do shopping you have choice of 3-5 shops , it does not matter what you buy . Tainted Capitalism for only rich .
Sony is a massive multi-national company. Hardly a local business. It’s the very epitome of capitalism. If you want to fight the power, buy your gear from a local, family owned business, if you can find one. I’ll always choose a small business over a large one.
We all know Sony have had a few problems financially in the last couple of years. It’s sad that some people are going to loose their livelihood, but in the great scheme of things, 14 shops isn’t that many jobs. And let’s be honest, Sony shops were rarely price competitive anyway.
“We all know Sony have had a few problems financially in the last couple of years.” [??]
Seriously? Bankruptcy is “a few problems”?
Sony is systemically broken, and according to most experts, unlikely to survive in anything that even remotely resembles their current selves.
What exactly does “most experts” mean? Experts in what? How many of these experts are there in total, and how many exactly say Sony is broken?
I prefer to wait and see myself.
A-Mount???
The problem with Sony stores is that they were VERY late to have in stock any new product. Sometimes later than even stores like BestBuy. I remember stopping in stores to see the products in my hands, they did not have it. “But we can order it…”. Thanks, but I can order it myself from the Sony online store, most of the time free (and faster) shipping than to store. I expected the store to be a showroom with the newest and greatest, which it never was. By the way they already closed bunch of stores in previous year, so the left location was further and even less likely to drive to it for a sneak peak.
Even worse than their lack of inventory was the pricing. The one we had in our state would try to sell everything at MSRP and I could walk half a block to the Best Buy and find the same things for less… How they thought they would be able to survive by charging prices higher than anyone else was beyond me. I’m frankly surprised the lasted as long as they did, I think the one in my area lasted about 2 years.
If they didn’t sell at MSRP, Best Buy, and others, would not stock Sony cameras, TVs, etc. If you want to have dealers, you can’t compete against them … simple as that.
Understood… but if you can’t compete or match the prices of the other sellers you shouldn’t be in the business. Frankly I never thought it made any sense…. Apple stores exist because you can get things there that aren’t available in the big box stores, at the very least they provide on site service for a product that many people seem to stupid to be able to use without training… not the case with a TV or camera that Sony was selling.
This is an AMAZON issue. It doesn’t matter what manufacturer you are. No one is buying from brick and mortar. Order now, shop for the cheapest and get tomorrow.
Wrong. These stores are closing because Sony is officially bankrupt. From 2014 >>
“One of the world’s biggest electronic giants, Sony, declared itself bankrupt today. Speaking in Tokyo a few hours after the filing, Kazuo Hirai said the Sony restructuring plan was “tough but fair”. He acknowledged that Sony stakeholders – its parts suppliers, dealers, debt-holders, shareholders, workers and retirees – were making tough sacrifices to keep the company afloat. ” Building a leaner Sony will come at a cost,” he said.Sony is the fourth largest corporation ever to go bankrupt behind the investment bank Lehman Brothers, the telecommunications firm WorldCom, and GM.”
Sony is in sorry shape. Given that, and their horrible schizophrenia building out camera systems and mounts over the past several years, I wouldn’t be investing in a Sony camera anytime soon.
That’s a secondary case in regards to their financial status. I’m sure it’s a factor but it is not the sole factor. I didn’t leave out other contributing factors.
I don’t know where this article is from. Most recent article is on the 80 percent chance they’ll go bankrupt in the next 2 years. Looks like both A mount and FE mount have a bright future ahead of them.
Haha. I thought sony was putting Nikon and Canon outsell of business. Everytime I visit this troll fest of techies wanting to be photographers i read a hundred post about it. Guess not, the Sony fan boys must be devastated.
Yeah, Nikon’s recall/service department is hiring a lot. You must be very happy! 🙂
Actually this is probably not due to the camera sales at all. Over the past few years the camera department was the only money maker Sony had. Sony stores were also about selling TVs, blue rays, etc etc, all of which lost money. That is what caused the downfall of the Sony stores, the camera division is a casualty that in contrast to the other departments is doing well.
Not sure about other Sony Stores, but the sales people at the one in my city no NOTHING about what they are selling. One of the sales people actually said a customer could get full autofocus via a metabones adapter to Nikon glass!
The sales person also failed realize that Nikon have legacy manual lenses and newer electronic G lenses. But still sold the camera as if ALL Nikon glass were the same and that the customer would get full AF.
This is just one of many stories I have of the poor sales people at the Sony Store.
So I am not surprised to see them close.
Everytime I went there I never felt as if I was talking to a Sony Expert.
They sell you whatever Sony was pushing at the moment. I called the Sony Store in NY a few times. Last time they talked down the whole A99 and started playing up the A7 series left and right. Oh, it’s the future and it’s smaller…blah blah blah. Great job Sony.
I’ve bought 8 Sony mirrorless cameras and more than a dozen lenses but none of them were purchased in a Sony store, all bought online. That may explain why they don’t need street store anymore.