Originally posted by OregonJim No big camera stores in my neck of the woods. The little ones only peddle C & N. You can find a D40 or a Rebel-whatever in any of the office chains. No Pentax/Sony/Olympus.
I have noticed that one of the Future Shops near me carries mostly Canon/Nikon, Olympus and Sonly DSLRs. I bought my K10D from the other Future Shop but I haven't been back to check and see what they have.
London Drugs also has a good selection of Canon, Nikon and Sony depending on what store you go into.
Originally posted by OregonJim Is a brick & mortar presence really as important as it used to be?
Yes, I much prefer buying from a local store where I can see/hold/try out the product before I buy it, and somewhere I can take it back if it is malfunctioning.
Today I went in and looked at lenses, not really serious about buying anything. The salesman asked me what I had already and recommended the FA50mm 1.4 to me. He had one in the display cabinet that he attached to a K20D for me to try. I bought it - not the display model but a new one from the storage drawer.
I work in small business/retail (computers) and unfortunately it seems like many people feel that the benifits of a locally owned are outweighed by our higher price, and although I boughy my camera from a big box store, I try to buy accessories, etc.. from local businesses. If we all did everything online, there would be a lot fewer places to help us out.