Originally posted by RioRico That's the questionable assumption -- that Pentax HAS sales reps going around to local stores. I suspect that Pentax deals on a corporate level with big online outlets that happen to have brick+mortar presences -- but not with the Big Box outlets? Why not?
So, questions: have any USA Pentaxians here ever seen a Pentax sales rep in a store? Have you ever asked a store manager if they're visited by Pentax sales reps?
Here in Cleveland, there is a regional camera store chain, Dodd's, that has a half-dozen or so outlets in the area, and a few more in Columbus. They are also a big professional outlet. In fact, they're just about the only camera stores in the area. When Ritz went bankrupt, all but three or four of their Ohio stores near Cincinnatti closed down. All the mom and pop camera stores are gone, as well.
Dodd's has recently expanded their Pentax stock. A year or so ago, about a month after the K-7 began shipping, I was in their flagship store and they didn't even have one in stock. I was there yesterday. They not only had the K-7, they had the K-x in all colors, except blue, and quite a few Pentax lenses. A couple of weeks ago, I was in one of their suburban stores and they had a red K-x, whereas a year ago, they had absolutely nothing with the Pentax name on it.
I spent a little time talking to one of the sales people, who is a Pentax user. He said that, yes, they do have a Pentax rep who visits them on a regular basis. He also told me that, in their stores, at least, Pentax was beginning to overtake Olympus for third place, behind (of course) Nikon and Canon.
BTW, they also had the A10 p & s from Pentax. Cute camera. Made me think about going home, getting out my Auto 110 and trying to find some 110 film.