Looks like Lomography (company) might be in trouble

kdemas

kdemas

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The San Francisco store is closing for good on the 9th with spots like LA, New York, West Hollywood and Santa Monica already gone. Reports of huge employee turnover on twitter as well.

This is really too bad as it was a nice way to re-introduce film photography to many in a whimsical way, utter simplicity. The people at our SF store are very nice and helpful, the company set a good tone.

Evidently the popularity of this trend of "hipster" adoption of film might have been overblown.

Here's a view on why the LA store shut down. With the SF closure there are no more gallery stores on the west coast.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2013/04/lomography_hipster_camera.php
 
hipster jump on and off - if something is today hip and trend - tomorrow it will be dull, boring and out of fashion.
If a company tries to deal with this people they must be aware that they might run away as fast as they have come.

I liked the lomoway, but never ever dealed with them - so it wouldn´t be a big lost for me.
 
I wanted to go the branch in Seoul but that one closed down recently too. I don't how well it is doing but I always thought LOMO was strong in the Asia. Hopefully the one in HK doesnt close down too.
 
We talked about this on an early episode of the podcast, stores are closing all over. And their more recent cameras have not lived up to the hype both in sales and in quality.
 
Maybe they are pushing their online sales? Jakarta store is still running I believe, but many find the price unattractive. Easier to buy from the site and even with taxes and DHL freight some find it to be the better deal. Also I've been introducing Yashica GSN, Nikon FE/FM series to them and they are actually thrilled to have some metal and glass for less money than a Sprocket Rocket.
 
We see this then and now, growth, saturation and demise. So this happens also with sushi and coffee shops, when they grow bigger and fatter than mere rice and coffee beans can feed. Sometimes it's wise to keep weight under control to not break under own weight.
 
That's a shame, I hope it's more to do with the the collapse of retail in general, rather than film camera/film sales in particular.

In the UK at least, many retailers are going to the wall, I don't think it's what they are selling, it's the way they are selling it. It's just too easy to order on Amazon rather than hump it to the high street and battle the crowds.
 
I think the last paragraph about using "food truck" style delivery and lab services is a brilliant idea.

Why hasn't someone done this already? You sell cameras and film from the truck, do labs and classes in nearby parks with the truck there to supply needs for the classes. Announce the locations so people can expect it, but also do surprise locations with special sales to motivate people to find the truck.

You could do lab stuff too but that would be a bit more complicated. Maybe if you had the ability to at least pickup/drop off stuff there that was either going to be processed at the LomoLab (sent off by the truck people) or processed locally somewhere and then you could pick up your prints/film later. Offer the same LomoLab services with photo uploads to your account as well. Perhaps.

I'd like to see more then just their brand of rebranded expensive film though if they are selling film. Would be nice for them to have some normal stuff that is priced accordingly. I mean, I can get this stuff online for way cheaper, but the whole point of this truck idea is to get people to find the truck, hang out, talk, take photos, and buy stuff. You get people buying at a reasonable price they will come back.

I personally own quite a few of their cameras. Mostly overpriced but some of them are brilliant in their uniqueness or they offer something special in some way.

My favorites are:

Spinner 360 - never saw anything like that before I got mine. I always get comments when I use it out in public and people love to see the photos that come from it.

Belair X 6-12 - an affordable folder with 3 shot sizes and very easy to use. A little over priced but worth it if you want to do medium format and have lots of sizes to pick from.

I think the Sardina is a good all around "intro to Lomo" camera as is the Holga. But both do have an unforgiving learning curve if you aren't used to film. I cant tell you how many rolls of expensive 120 I wasted before I started getting shots I cared for from the Holga.

So, imagine this truck. You see it, it has some screens displaying slide shows of cool photos as well as some of the cameras and film they offer. Go up, ask questions, see something that you like, they show you how it works, maybe let you snap a few shots with it (you buy the film they offer use of the camera to try it). Offer bundles where you get a camera and some film right there and they help you learn how to use it right there on the spot so you literally leave with exposed photos already in camera.

Impulse purchase energy relies heavily on demos, hands on and "ohh and ahh" factors. I think a cool looking truck that was mobile and could get around could do some good for Lomo and film itself.
 
As much as I'm not an advocate of "lifestyle branding" marketing (Lomo, Leica, Ducati, Harley Davidson), I think Lomo had the best legitimate shot at rebooting film sales somewhat, and as annoying as hipsters may be, anything that gets more film sold regularly is a good thing in my book, and an absence that will be missed.
 
It is a shame. For those of us shooting film LOMO is helping is extend the life of film products. I hope they are not about to go under.

For what it is worth, I get my film processed at a place in London which stocks all the LOMO products and they are quite busy at the weekends with people buying the stuff.

LouisB
 
Well, seems like a good time to stock up on some of Lomo's odd films then. Love them or hate them, they're basically the only game in town for at least 110...

I own a few of their cameras, just because it's a nice change a pace from some of the more professional stuff that I use.

The one thing that always annoyed me about Lomo is they never seemed to have any stock on certain films. We'll see if I can finally snag some of that 110 slide stuff.
 
They have been closing a lot of stores mostly because they put stores in the wrong areas. Lomography cameras are a niche product, but they put stores in areas with sky high rents, and often the "wrong kind" of public.
For instance here in Austin they had a store on congress right by the capitol building - a very high rent area, but unfortunately not the area with the sort of people that would buy their cameras. Had they set up shop on south congress where all the "hip" tourists spend their time in trendy antique shops, clothing stores, etc. they would have gotten a lot more traffic.

It was likely part of trying to market a fancy image, but it came back and bit them on the butt.

Is lomography in trouble though? Probably not.
 
I always thought that Lomo was a good way to have people rediscover film photography but then you move and pass to something else. If you are attracted by the look of a camera with no film pressure plate you buy any camera you like and remove them, if you are attracted by experimentation of old processes you move to LF or pinhole. If you just like film photography you buy "normal" cameras at a fraction of the price. Fuji makes much better classic PS film cameras which are often cheaper than Lomos... Maybe now it is time for them to move further to something different than overpriced plastic cameras with bad lenses and no pressure plates...

GLF
 
giellaleafapmu said:
I always thought that Lomo was a good way to have people rediscover film photography but then you move and pass to something else. If you are attracted by the look of a camera with no film pressure plate you buy any camera you like and remove them, if you are attracted by experimentation of old processes you move to LF or pinhole. If you just like film photography you buy "normal" cameras at a fraction of the price. Fuji makes much better classic PS film cameras which are often cheaper than Lomos... Maybe now it is time for them to move further to something different than overpriced plastic cameras with bad lenses and no pressure plates...

GLF
Click to expand...

Maybe they will move on to cameras without film doors, or cameras with silly film rewind knobs. 😀
 
As far as I can make out, the shops are franchises - and fashion gadget franchises tend to have a pretty short life, even at the best of times, when (indeed because) the product establishes itself.
 
sevo said:
As far as I can make out, the shops are franchises - and fashion gadget franchises tend to have a pretty short life, even at the best of times, when (indeed because) the product establishes itself.
Click to expand...

Very good point. To clarify my original post... for all I know the online Lomo presence could be doing huge business. I don't want to imply its going away, just that the retail side is having issues.
 
The article said that their online side is doing well and is where most folks are going to get their products.

To me this still backs up the "food truck" idea. Roving location, cool idea. No one really does stuff in these trucks that isn't food or drinks except in places like Mexico where anything you can setup shop in has stuff for sale.

I don't think they are going out of business, I think they are doing very well most likely. Just as was said above, they picked the wrong locations for their shops. I'd like to see them put more effort into having a presence in local film/camera shops personally.

So you can buy some Lomography gear and film, talk to experts of film and photography, and buy more then just their stuff.

Not that I go to the local film/camera place... I get everything online anymore. So I may be the the kind of customer that has caused these shops to close.
 
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