Originally posted by heliphoto I recently drove an hour to my nearest "local" camera store and they wouldn't let me handle the cameras I was interested in ("those cameras are too expensive - we don't take them out of the box... they might get dust and fingerprints on them"). Insanity! I was fuming! Needless to say they did not get my business... Adorama got my $5,000 instead. So much for shopping locally.
We no longer have any camera stores in this area, just a couple of dept. stores and big box stores that sell a few cameras, also locked up. Every camera I have ever bought came from a shop but I have resigned myself that my next one will have to be mail order/online. This is the way the business has gone. I don't really like it and returning things to mail order is a hassle sometimes. Last week I bought a new printer that was bad right out of the box. I returned it to the store and had my refund instantly. With a mail order company I would still be getting my chain yanked. I support the "Buy Local" idea but sometimes it isn't possible with some products, and cameras are one of them, at least around here. I would have serious reservations about ordering something from half way around the world however. If something needs to be returned, the hassle is multiplied 3X.