The last thing I did in NYC was take a tour of the famous BH Photo. If you are a photographer and havent heard of it, now you have. I now buy ALL of my camera supplies through BH. They are the best, bar none. I once bought a $1500 lens, tried it out for a week, and then returned it. They refunded my money, no questions asked.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a nice guy named Herschel who works in their affiliate department and was invited to join their program, which I did. He also mentioned that if I was ever in NYC, he would personally give me a tour. I wasnt planning on being in NYC any time soon, but lo and behold, I was, so I took Herschel up on his offer.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me take any pictures inside, but the best way I can describe it is:
“Santa’s Workshop”
Millions of dollars of equipment everywhere, and seemingly hundreds of employees in green vests running around everywhere. They have one of their warehouses below the showroom floor, and a very complex merchandise order system, with tracks running all over the place and little bins of toys for the children, I mean, camera equipment, moving around the place. It seemed as if they were making a point to make order fulfillment visible. It was.
The most impressive thing of the tour was what Herschel told me. None of their salesmen are paid a commission.
He said:
“We dont make sales, we make customers.”
It finally clicked. That is why they are sooooo good at what they do. They do not care about making a sale, they want you to return again, and again, and again, and they ensure you do with superior service.
I was so impressed Hershel took the time to spend 45 minutes of his day to personally show me around. I know Im not one of their more lucrative affiliates, but again Hershel said “We believe greatness comes from small beginnings.” It made me feel awesome.
If you ever visit NYC and are into photography, definitely check it out!
when i took my photography class in college i bought all my stuff from BH i do like the and if i get back into taking pictures i would get all my stuff from them in a heart beat
like *them
i really like their site. really like it. very organized, sell used equipment and very professional. unlike Adorama where everything is crammed. next time i go to NY, i am going there!
I knew you would like B&H. Santa’s Workshop is exactly right! I love that place. Glad you had a great time.
When my husband and I were there in July, we said it was like Disney World for photographers! It’s a fascinating store with UNBELIEVABLE customer service. I wanted to buy a camera bag but the one the sales person showed me within my price range looked to small to hold my 40D, 580 Flash, and my lens. He told me to wait a moment and he’d be right back. In under a minute he came back with my "exact" equipment, put everything in the bag and zipped it up perfectly. If that isn’t excellent customer service, I don’t know what is!
This is great to know! I haven’t done business with them too much in recent years, just because when I go to Amazon, it seems to be Adorama that does the fulfillment. I’ll definitely have to take another look at B&H. This will give me an excuse to buy more stuff, just to, uh, you know, test out their customer service. Ahem.
They are my go to source!
If I do mail order then BH is definitely the place to go. I also try to support my local camera shop Keeble & Schuchat since they’re a great bunch of guys and they’re able to get me out of those last minute binds that inevitably happen.