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BRIEFS: January 21

Industry icons bow out

Photo Counter has been notified of some recent and forthcoming retirements from the senior ranks of photo retailing.

David Owen, Owens Camera House, Warnambool Vic – regarded by his peers (and suppliers) as one of the best operators in the country, has already pulled up stumps and is currently touring Tasmania (prompting various colleagues he visits in the Apple Isle to frantically put their stores in order to match the impeccable standards of Mr Owen’s Warnambool outlet!) Others soon to start smelling the roses rather than the fixer are three esteemed members of the PhotoPlus buying group: Hans Foeken (Fletchers Castle Hill); Wolfgang Becker (Midcity Camera World, Hobart) and Peter and Carmen De Janko (Greensborough Photo & Video – Peter is pictured above right).

‘We at PhotoPlus wish them all well as they discover quality time away from specialty photographic retailing,’ said PhotoPlus president, Wayne Styles.

Photo Counter also wishes David, Hans, Wolfgang and Peter and their families health and prosperity as they move on to the next exciting adventure. It’s photo retailing’s loss: between them these individuals represent well over 100 years of knowledge and experience. How do you replace that?

We hope to track at least one of these four gentlemen down for an ‘exit interview’ before they clean the rollers for the last time.

If you have news of retirements, births, marriages, etc, within the photographic community, don’t hesitate to drop us an email at keiths@photocounter.com.au. It’s not good when good people just drift away from our community without acknowledgement.

Doing well by doing good

Phil Gresham (FotoFast, Brisbane) was incredibly quick off the mark in inveigling key supplier HP into supporting a promotion where flood victims are being offered a free photo-to-CD service.

The service will assist people who needed to archive photos of flood damaged property for insurance purposes.

Flood victims are being advised to take photos of everything before they are disposed of.

Fotofast will transfer images from memory cards or 35mm film at no charge onto a personalised photo CD with an index booklet.

The FotoFast website also carries some excellent practical advice on how to handle water-damaged photos, negs and even memory cards to limit further loss. As usual, Mr Gresham has no hesitation in sharing his ‘intellectual property’ with the community.

Frequent Photographer program from Nulab

Melbourne-based pro lab Nulab has a Loyalty Rewards program running, with points accumulated for all purchases made by customers through 2010.

The program includes spending with sister company, Picpress, dedicated to producing high-end photo books.

Loyalty Rewards points accumulated in 2010 will be ready to use on February 1, with customers urged to use up Loyalty Rewards points earned during 2009 before February 1 this year.

The January Nulab newsletter carries several more-than-usually worthwhile articles on upcoming educational opportunities and marketing initiatives. Visit www.nulab.com.au to register.

Back to school with Lexar

Lexar is running a back-to-school promotion in stores selling Lexar USB flash drives.

Anyone purchasing a Lexar USB flash drive from any Australian retailer through to February 28 will be in the running to win daily or weekly prizes. Over $23,000 of prizes are on offer, including 59 8GB iPod Nanos ($199), drawn daily and eight Toshiba Satellite L630/063 Netbooks ($1499), drawn weekly.

To enter, customers SMS the last 6 digits of their Lexar product barcode plus their full name and state of residence, or register online at www.lexar.com/au. Tear sheets of the offer are positioned beside the Lexar USB flash drive ranges in select stores.

It’s a Bunny year!

..And in other news from the scintillating world of NAND-based storage, Kingston has released the fourth in a series of limited edition collectible USB drives based on the Chinese Zodiac. This year, to mark the Year of the Rabbit, we have the Bunny Drive, available in 4GB capacity and only on sale in the Asia Pacific region.

With SecureTraveler software and a congratulation video pre-loaded, the Kingston Limited Edition Lucky Bunny Drive not only brings consumers peace and good luck from the outside, but also gives them a secure and peaceful mind from the inside,’observed Kingston.

The new drive allows corporate and home users to set up public and password-protected privacy zones as well as to set Windows shortcuts to launch the programs conveniently.

The Kingston Limited Edition Lucky Bunny Drive will be presented during the Chinese New Year season.

For those a little bruised and battered from the retailing battles of 2010 (Year of the Tiger), it’s worth noting that the Year of the Rabbit is ‘a peaceful, moderate year with an easygoing pace.’

RRP is $10.35 in Australia and $13.75 in NZ.

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