Grays of Westminster

[Fraser]

Looks like a nice shop, according to there prices I'm a very rich man.

 

[zuikologist]

I have passed it many times an even been in the store, as I used to work close by. It is an old-school shop, albeit the school is Eton or Harrow. Prices may be high, but quality and service are exemplary. At the other end of the West End, Aperture are also good people to deal with.

 

[markwatts]

Very professional staff. Excellent service. Second hand items are expensive but the condition is guaranteed.

 

[Anthony Harvey]

Agree with all the above, absolutely.

I've bought all my Nikon cameras and lenses at Grays of Westminster over some six years or so. I've only bought used bodies (D700, F6, F100) but the lenses have been a mixture of new and second-hand. I've not only been delighted with everything I've bought from them but I've also enjoyed dealing with them as a customer.

To my mind, for their used equipment they only deal in high quality items, and this and the reliable guarantee service they give accounts for the highish prices. I've found them worth every penny they charge. Also, they know, or can find out, nearly everything you need to know about things Nikon. Great service, as others have noted. And Gray and all the staff actually love photography and revere good equipment - it comes across when you deal with them. Highly recommended.

Incidentally, I believe that the owner, Gray Levett, likes Nikon rangefinders (he's written about them in the past in the Nikon Owner magazine, a high quality publication that the shop has good links with) and they've always got a good stock of them.

Gray himself is an interesting man, and the company is about to celebrate 30 years in business. Part of the celebrations include the annual Christmas Dinner. Their current advert has some useful information so I'll quote from it here:

"Our annual Christmas events are always unique, and this year we will be celebrating the occasion of Grays of Westminster’s 30th Anniversary.

Grays of Westminster, the multi-award winning, exclusively Nikon dealer based in central London, services the photographic needs of over 47,000 clients, including A-list movie stars, rock stars and royalty as well as people from all walks of life and professions. It is the first camera shop in the world to be granted a Coat of Arms by Her Majesty’s College of Arms.

The meal will be followed by an illustrated talk by Gray Levett, the founder of Grays of Westminster, as he tells us about the company he started with only £100 to its name, and describes, with anecdotes and stories, his extraordinary life of over four decades in the photographic business. It is a career that has straddled music, photography and the movie world in both the UK and Hollywood, encompassing legendary figures, such as Kate Bush, Art Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Stanley Kubrick, Lord Snowdon, David Bailey and Terence Donovan."

It's got me tempted to go myself!

 

[zuikologist]

For the life of me I cannot stand that shop and the attitude of the staff there, I don't think one can be more arrogant than them.

Grays of Westminster all the way, or MWclassics which is rather the complete opposite.

They have always been friendly when I have been there, or I may be too thick skinned to notice!

I have been to MW Classic's "store room" - amazing place, again nice guys to deal with.

 

[telenous]

I have passed it many times an even been in the store, as I used to work close by. It is an old-school shop, albeit the school is Eton or Harrow. Prices may be high, but quality and service are exemplary. At the other end of the West End, Aperture are also good people to deal with.

Very professional staff. Excellent service. Second hand items are expensive but the condition is guaranteed.

Precisely my experience too. I must have bought the cheapest item in the catalogue at the time yet they spent time with me as if I was buying the priciest item in the store. The pricing is aggressive but you get service and peace of mind.

For the life of me I cannot stand that shop and the attitude of the staff there, I don't think one can be more arrogant than them.

Grays of Westminster all the way, or MWclassics which is rather the complete opposite.

Try asking them why they won't take items under £1000 in commission sales and not have your jaws drop at the way they tell you that it is 'too much paperwork'.

Nothing short of staggering really. Richard is actually OK.

I think around the time of the opening of the Rathbone Place shop they put on airs in an effort to move upscale. (Incidentally, it seems to me that is happening in many places in London, as more and more money is pouring in.) I have a mixed history of buying and selling with Aperture and I always approach with caution, esp. with the owner who has not warned me on defects in used items he showed me and I was interested in. Perhaps he thinks it's not his responsibility to do so, and perhaps it isn't. I just find it, I don't know, kind of petty? Agreed about Richard though, nice bloke, never had a problem when dealing with him. Their repairman, who sometimes works the floor too, will haggle as if his life depends on it. (And, knowing the owner, it probably does.) Makes me feel I went to the bazaar instead of a shop. That said, my sources say he is a good, dependable repairman though their Aperture prices can be beaten by other equally capable repair people. All in all, I think they are currently addressing a different clientele than when I first shopped with them ten years ago.

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