"They (HSBC) were not interested in any discussions as they felt there was equity value to be realised in the future"

That would be because the bank already owned 43% of the company. Presumably HSBC didn't have confidence in the proposed deal, given that Jessops was debt-heavy.

In simple terms, Jessops made a marketing blunder when it expanded too rapidly on the back of the smartphone bubble. The Jessops view was that people would flock to its stores to buy digital cameras, and it just didn't happen. Smartphone users didn't buy cameras because they were using their phones to take photographs, and keen photographers and professionals who knew what they wanted were buying their gear online.

Jessops was left horribly exposed (forgive the pun), with an unsustainable business model and a mountain of debt. The writing was on the wall some time ago.

spuds

"...from a statement of closing a few stores to total apparent collapse and store clearance only took a matter of hours."

That's because Price Waterhouse Cooper were talking to suppliers to see if they would be prepared to help keep the stores trading by allowing an extension to the existing payment period on stock already delivered.

It was obviously not possible to secure those agreements, so all stock that hasn't yet been paid for will have to be returned to the suppliers as soon as possible. It doesn't form part of the assets of the business.

Posted by Pavvi

Part of the problem was caused by stores not having cameras/accessories physically in stock. It's all very well demonstrating a camera to a person and closing a sale but if the customer has to wait a few days for the items, they will likely walk away. One of the USPs of High Street stores is the ability to walk out with the item in your mitts and have a go with it. At Carphone Warehouse, I converted some (but not all) that were going to buy their mobiles online, on the basis that they could walk out of the store with their phones working. (full network functionality usually takes an hour or two, and at busier times longer but I always made this clear). When shopping there I often came across people liking a camera they demonstrated but being told it was out of stock, most walked away rather than wait for it.

What Jessops did have which was good was the ability to reserve something instore and get the online deal for it.

I prefer to shop in person myself especially with camera gear. There are still one or two camera stores left like London camera exchange and Calumet. LCE are generally pretty good, and Calumet are excellent, if geared primarily towards professionals. I will miss Jessops because they had a better nationwide coverage than others. Their telephone support lines, were however in my experience consistently poor.

It is possible that i was one of those buyers who decided to shop elsewhere ,i went to a Jessops shop locally to enquire about a particular model camera and the service was desultory,granted this was a product superseded by the next model version but all reviews suggested this was the better option ,these reviews were online and varied.

I decided to look online and a shop in Burgess Hill was offering this model at a fantastic price ,undercutting Jessops by a significemt margin but it was also the service which was a factor in my purchase.

It is unfortunate that this outlet has closed but technology waits for no one,Morgan Guarantee ? i remember a few of their shops closed down.

Tech outlets appear to be those most vulnerable to the present economic climate.

I think that we'll see more manufacturers showrooms appear as the retail shops of the like of Jessops disappear to ensure that we can get a hands on feel before buying.

My town had a Panasonic showroom open a couple of years ago which displays their full range of products including their compact four thirds camera equipment that I adopted about the same time.

Strangely their showroom pricing is way over the top uncompetitive. Is this a case of not having to make a showroom profit as long as the product is purchased somewhere from any Panasonic retailer, shop or web?