It’s a catalog showroom then, like the aforementioned Service Merchandise? Right down to demanding your phone and address to sell you a pack of batteries? You know, there’s a reason Service Merchandise, and Best, and Paysaver, and etc., and so on are no longer in business.
Look on the bright side: the longer you wait, the more you can stoke your fire of indignant outrage.
Best place to shop for camera gear online even if you’re only browsing, simply due to the completeness of their photographic inventory ( I’ve also bought binoculars from them ). They don’t always have the absolute best prices, but they’re generally competitive and their reputation is sterling. The can be a bit abrupt with “New York manners” on the phone, but I’ve done 90% of my business with them via the internet and never had any complaints. However I have never set foot in their physical store.
I don’t really consider them an electronics store like Best Buy, so much as an optics store that also sells electronics.
I’m surprised that you’re surprised that the store observes the Jewish Sabbath. In my experience, a bunch of the camera and electronics stores in the New York area do so.
That it being this particular holiday meant he wouldn’t be getting his smoked Kippur for breakfast.
Just use their website next time. Every time I’ve ordered from them, I’ve gotten my shipment within two days, and I live near Boston. They’re a very reliable photo store with a good reputation.
And yeah, wth is up with the Yom Kippur comment?
Common practice for catalog-based department stores like Service Merchandise, Best Products, and (at least 15 years ago) Sears.
Yep. From the Adorama website:
I love B&H, even though i do agree that it would be nice if they had a sort of express area where you could grab small stuff and proceed straight to the checkout with it.
Basically, B&H is an evolution of the E J Korvette model. It’s just a different kind of system. A catalog warehouse, with clerks up ‘front’ and a warehouse out back. Little obscure, but given that they’re dealing with multiple-thousand dollar items and really high traffic, it works for them.
This is why I do all my shopping at Wal-Mart.
Those suckers will be open for the freakin’ Apocalypse.
Yeah, unless the apocalypse breaks out in china first in which case Walmart will be empty before we even realize the world has gone to hell.
There is or was a similar store sometihing Street Photo (e.g., 42nd Street Photo but I"m not sure that’s the right street). Prominently orthodox, very efficient but esoteric purchase process. good prices.
I do the same thing, and I live across town. It’s just easier than making the trip over there and shipping isn’t any more expensive than it would be to get the item to my apartment by other means.
B&H also has excellent pro audio and computer departments. I get most of my electronics and software from there. They have a lot of depth and most of the time they have what I want in stock.
If they do run into trouble it’s not going be for lack of sales but because of their labor practices.
Yep - I remember the place. They typically had one display item for you to look at, and the actual stock of the item was in the back somewhere.
The OP’s description reminds me of the one time we had to have dealings with the Washington DC beaurocracy for parking passes. IIRC, we had to bring our paperwork to one person who looked at it and stamped it. Then to another person who looked at the stamp and took our fee. Then to a third person who gave us the actual parking pass. Fortunately, the time we went it wasn’t busy, so none of the lines we were in were more than one or two people deep.
Anyway - I agree, the “system” described by the OP is really messed up. Even if they really really prefer to operate like Service Merchandise did (and with Manhattan real estate prices, a way to have more of their store in unmarketable sub-basements etc. can be a significant savings), there are certainly a lot more steps than are really needed. For example ANY cashier should be able to handle all steps except the physical pickup.
Actually, I’m sure B&H doesn’t give a fuck whether you’re their customer or not. They’ve been doing things that way for a long time, and every time I’ve been in there the store’s been very busy. It’s the best place to go if you want to actually pick up, feel, use, and sample the product- like a camera. The salespeople are extremely knowledgeable and helpful- try getting anything close to product knowledge from any of the mooks at Best Buy.
And yes, they keep the sabbath. Is that a problem?
I’m sure I would feel the same way as the OP if I had that experience; I used to regularly ignore the Radio Shack requests for name & address in a militant manner (I live at 123 Fake Street, Dude, and what’s it to ya?). But I have quite an admiration for B&H’s online store. They ship fast, they have the best prices for some products, and they have provided useful pre-sale technical help on occasion without high pressure tactics. Their product line is amazing and their big printed catalogs, fun to drool over and good references.
And no, their web site is not closed on the Sabbath, just the order-taking part of it is. Annoying and strange as a business model, but I can live with it. Once I couldn’t, and ordered from someone else – that’s the chance they’ll have to take if religion intrudes into business.
That would be Point Of Sale or Piece Of Shit? 
Just being annoyed that a business closes for Yom Kippur is not in itself an anti-Semetic comment, as many of you seem to be implying. I myself am …less than pleased that businesses close for any religious holiday, to be honest. I’m not saying they shouldn’t, absolutely not, but I reserve the right to be :dubious: when I see such a thing. Christmas I’ll give them a pass since it’s become so secular, and everyone needs a winter holiday, even us godlessheathens, but say for Easter? There are lots of people who are willing to work on that day, I’m sure. Hindus and Muslims and buddhists.
As for the store, that would piss me off, too. You don’t need my address or my phone #, and I certainly don’t want to have to wait five minutes for the thing I could have just carried downstairs. So I for one will say thnak you to the OP - now I can avoid B&H.
I did not think any store asked for one’s phone number and address anymore after Radio Shack.
The cumbersome ridiculous receipt bullshit you had to go through is pretty much security on their part. There has always been a theft problem in this business, a lot of it, unfortunately comes from employees. (It burns my ass when an employer openly states this fact openly, but it is sadly the truth.) Retail runs on small margins of profit, especially now. So, they will do whatever they can to slightly inconvenience the customer. There are also (I’m sure) certain employees who have the power to get the really expensive shit from the back. Again, internal security.
I wouldn’t have too much of a cow giving them my address and my name. I would tell them my phone number is private. If they don’t like that, I’ll walk. I doubt “in this economy” they will make too much of a stink.
Yom Kippur? Were they all Jewish? Did they try to cheat you? Did they show Woody Allen films in the video department? (I don’t like Jews, but hey, Woody rules.) It’s New York man. In San Francisco, they close earlier when the Satanists sacrifice a virgin on the alter of Goth. New York aint shit!
Anyhow, it’s a regionalism. There used to be a lot of stores that had this model in the area. B&H is probably the only survivor I can think of that isn’t something like a carpet store or something.