[Leica] The lights are on...but nobody's home

["Emanuel Lowi" <mano@proxyma.net>]

I can understand Leica's reluctance to launch full-scale magazine ad campaigns.
Locking horns publicly with the Japanese makers is probably highly cost ineffective.

What concerns me more is the attitude of many dealers. I've been into several
stocking Leica shops who seem curiously indifferent to the products. They have the
stuff on the shelf yet seem unconvinced as to their excellenceand good value. They
just don't get it. It is funny for me, as a customer, to have to sell Leica to the
sales staff.

We all know why Leica is great, especially the unique M line: the way the cameras
become an extension of your hands and eye, the unobtrusiveness, the fine quality.
Despite the cost, we all know that spending $2000 for an M6 means 40-50 years of
photographic enjoyment and lasting value. Almost no other marque offers that.

So why isn't Leica working harder to sell retailers on this? Seems to me this is the
first step towards pumping up sales worldwide. I hope this will happen soon,
especially here in Canada - once Leica's 2nd home - where Leica has seemed nearly
anonymous.

Emanuel Lowi
Montreal