Major UK electronic retailer no longer selling non-digital cameras
 

UK's Dixons says 35mm cameras no longer in frame

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest electricals retailer Dixons Group Plc said on Monday it would no longer stock 35mm film-based cameras due to weak demand.

Dixons, originally a photographic studio, said digital cameras now outsell 35mm cameras by 15 to one.

"Last year, we pulled the plug on video recorders, but today's announcement is in many ways a more sentimental event," said Bryan Magrath, marketing director at Dixons.

Sales of 35mm cameras peaked in the UK in 1989 when 2.9 million cameras were sold, but sales have since fallen as digital camera prices come down while image quality improves.

"Time and technology move on ... digital cameras are now the rule, rather than the exception. We have decided that the time is now right to take 35mm cameras out of the frame," Magrath said.

Dixons, which opened its first outlet in Southend, east of London in 1937, said it had tested 100 customers and 93 percent could not tell the difference between digital and 35mm prints.

The retailer said it would continue to sell a limited range of 35mm cameras until its stocks ran out. Some specialist 35mm cameras would continue to be sold at the company's tax-free airport stores.

Photographic goods retailer Jessops Plc, floated on the London Stock Exchange at 155 pence per share in late October following several years of strong sales growth boosted by the boom in digital cameras.

However, shares in Jessops lost nearly a third of their value in March when the company said a slowdown in consumer spending had hit sales of digital cameras with profit margins squeezed by the need to keep up with price-cutting competition.

Shares in Dixons closed up 0.3 percent at 155-1/2 pence on Monday, while shares in Jessops fell 0.3 percent to 82-1/4p.

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good to hear, should have to done that long time ago

digital is great, but still lacks the potential quality of high quality 35mm film like Velvia.

and I still prefer it for some things over digital.

hahaha.. my mother (lives in the UK) was bitching at me a couple weeks ago that for the life of her she could NOT find a 35mm camera that WASN'T digital..

I thought maybe she was starting to lose her mind, I mean, why would they just STOP selling them, not EVERYONE has a computer.. :error

now though I wonder if she really COULDN'T find one.. :helpme

perhaps I should send her one for her birthday since she can't get one there! :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Which is why it will still continue to be available in specialty stores and not retail stores :upsidedow

Not really suprising

My city is home to Kodak. News like this has huge impact on our local economy.