FWIW, the camera business is getting squeezed by the cell phone business. That is, the dwindling camera section is not due to poor marketing on the part of Fry's, but due to the trend of folks using their iPhones to take pics rather than using a Nikon or Canon. (That said, I'm a Nikon guy - you can't get a good liftoff shot using a cell phone.)
Doug
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Much like the brick-n-mortar photography/camera shops... digital photography drove a stake through their heart, internet sales+ big box electronics stores were the last nail in the coffin.
Now their only real "market" is for professional photographers, and I wonder how much of a market that is... I bet many pros get their materials from online suppliers at lower prices than local shops can offer... maybe they can survive selling high end glass (lenses) and stuff like that... but those sales aren't "impulse buys" or high numbers, especially if you're just serving a limited number of "pros".
I think the nearest camera shop to us anymore is in Houston... so basically, like the hobby shops, it's being driven into large metropolitan areas where there's enough "enthusiasts" and "professionals" (at least in the case of photographers) to support a shop.
We used to have a really nice, big camera shop in Rosenberg about 15 miles from us, but they continuously dwindled over the last 10-15 years with the proliferation, first, of "instant development" services in every drugstore and big retailer, and second, the transition from film to digital photography. They folded a few years ago.
Sad, but we're in a major transition across the board... probably most similar to the transition from horses to automobiles at the beginning of the last century. Heck, when my wife can get toilet paper and various sundries shipped in from Amazon or wherever cheaper and easier than getting it from the local big retailer, makes me wonder how long they're going to remain in business... the pinch on the big retailers (like Walmart) who're seeing declining sales and profits, while their selection continues to dwindle and service is practically nonexistant, tells me they're starting to see the effects of a changing marketplace.
Later! OL JR