Leica Walking Tightrope On Its Company-Branded Retail Stores

Leica opened its second company-branded store, a gallery and retail boutique in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The 1,400-square-foot space is designed to “bring the value of Leica to the point of sale,” Roland Wolff, Leica vice president-marketing and corporate retail, told us at the grand opening Tuesday.

The company wanted a “dedicated environment to highlight the brand,” Wolff said, adding that Leica wants to dispel the misconception among consumers that the brand is “elitist” and “unachievable.” Although Leica wants to make the brand “more accessible,” Wolff conceded that “people need to get to a certain level of income” to realize the value of a Leica camera. The least expensive model shown at the store is a $699 Leica V-Lux 40 compact point-and-shoot model.

The New York Leica store doesn’t carry any of the Panasonic Lumix models with Leica lenses. All cameras and lenses are behind glass at the Leica store that’s part retail outlet, part photo gallery. “We don’t expose product,” Wolff said. “We're not an Apple Store or a Best Buy,” but consumers can try out models on request and “take them for a spin,” he said. The store is sponsoring New York walking tours where consumers can “shoot for free” and it also will hold training classes at stores via the Leica Academy, he said.

Among the New York Leica store’s cameras that are exclusive to company-owned stores are a Leica M9 limited-edition titanium camera and a limited-edition X2 camera, trimmed in orange and green, designed by fashion designer Paul Smith. Cameras at the store don’t have price tags attached, but accessory camera bags that were not behind glass did, including $119 and $269 canvas bags.

Commenting on the current state of the digital camera market, Wolff called it “challenging,” especially in the compact segment that’s facing “stronger and stronger” competition from advancing camera features in smartphones. He noted that Nikon and Canon recently cut sales targets for digital SLRs, a category that’s been buoying the camera business recently, but claimed Leica exists in a “bubble” and doesn’t typically follow market trends.

Leica opened its first retail store in Washington, D.C., last year (CED April 2 p6) and plans to round out its East Coast store lineup with a store in Miami that’s to open soon, Wolff said. A 7,500-square-foot store that’s half gallery/half store will follow in Los Angeles, he said. The company is looking at additional locations in California and in Texas, Wolff said, and plans to partner with another company on a retail store in Chicago.