Most consumers aren’t even aware, but each year market-leading camera manufacturer Canon embarks on what it terms ‘Camera Store Week’ in the UK. The name reads like its own spin on the popular annual Record Store Day for the music industry, which is much bigger and gets greater media coverage.
Different industries, yes, but some aspects are the same, in that the focus is on the retailer – and driving custom and sales. Both are commercial enterprises after all.
But unlike Record Store Day, which involves the participation of tens of different record labels, hundreds of individual musical artists and hundreds of individual record shops in the UK alone – leading to an industry-wide boost that now has an international reach – Canon’s Camera Store Week is chiefly all about Canon.
I believe that is a great shame and a big missed opportunity. During my decade spent editing the UK’s only photo trade magazine, I often suggested that our industry should learn a lesson from Record Store Day – initially set up to stem the closure of independent record shops – and do something similar for specialist photo retailers, who have long faced their own existential crisis.
My idea was mostly met with silence. And, sadly, over the past decade the amount of independent UK photo retailers in business has decreased in number from around 300 to as few as 50 or 60 today. That means photography has far less visibility on the local British high street than it ever used to. That doesn’t benefit anyone. It’s slightly better news currently in the USA, however, where over 1,000 photo independents remain; but then it is a much, much larger country.
In any event, retailer-focused events organized by major manufacturers to help the former increase footfall, and the latter boost sales, can only be a good thing. Canon has print workshops, photo walks and tutorials focused on its RF lens range planned for Camera Store Week 2026.
I’m not dismissing any of that, but inevitably it does mean that participating retailers will be prioritizing customers getting hands-on with Canon product for the duration of the promotional activity.
A step in the right direction is that Canon says it is collaborating with complementary accessory brands this year, which widens the scope. Though I think that leaves plenty of room for it to go wider and more inclusive of other brands still. Much more inclusive, if it truly does feel that, as Canon UK’s marketing blurb states: ‘specialist camera stores are an essential part of the photography community’.
After years of camera manufacturers attempting to sell and market direct to customers and increasingly sidelining the retailer, it does feel a bit rich to hear one say, at this very late stage, it wants to ‘support the high street and give customers more reasons to visit their local store.’
That said, any action is better than inaction. Plus, in fairness, while it is the market leader, it should not be down to ‘just’ Canon to boost photo retail. Yes, some rival brands will do their own promotions, with in-store experts dispatched here and there throughout the year. But I still feel turning around the fortunes of the photo retailer and camera manufacturers alike needs an industry-wide banding together to make a concerted effort. And there must be enough big names that consider it worthwhile and valuable to band together to make it a success.
Incidentally, Canon’s Camera Store Week is a misnomer this year, as in fact it runs for two weeks, from September 14-27, at participating retailers. But we can – and need to – do more before there are no local camera stores or shops left trading to hold such an event in.
