Fires Effects on Astronomy Retailers

[glend (Glen)]

As we see the daily photos of the fires, and choke on the smoke that blocks out the night sky, I have been considering how the local astronomy retail market is surviving. I note that both of the major retailers are holding longer and deeper discount sales than previously, but what about the little guys? I am prepared to buy but not if I can't use it. I have to ask is anyone buying anything Astro faced with the prospect of a summer of smoke haze. Is this the new normal? Will the retail community collapse completely due to unsustainable trading slumps? Sure Australia is a big country, and online sales to unaffected parts of the country do constitute a help, but subtract all of NSW from the market and what does that leave them with?

[PeterM]

Interesting question.
Having bought a Lunt 60mm and Coronado 40mm for Solar in the last few weeks, I have found the lack of Sunspots for 21 straight days along with smoke haze over the Gold Coast basically leave me with a focussed red ball. Have also bought and sold a number of items from IIS recently and the recent IIS sales archives show a fair bit of equipment has changed hands. Also spoken to a few Astro retailers in Qld & NSW recently and they were glowing about sales. Maybe After Pay, Black Fridays, Low interest rates and Discounts are too much to resist and save the day. But in my case at least last month and this month I've been rethinking the 3 hour drive to our Leyburn dark sky site. Looking at the smoke map I don't know how anyone from Bega to Brisbane and outwest could be doing much Astro at all.

But first an foremost our thoughts should be with those affected and those fighting these awful fires. My thoughts are with my mate Jim at Millmerran, you and your family stay safe. Testing times.

[Rainmaker (Matt)]

The problem for retailers is that amateur astronomy as a hobby/pastime is ageing.... go to any gathering, star party or astro club meeting and you will see the average age is getting toward retirement age.

The only way to get many young people off their couches and out to look at the stars is to hold outreach events, unfortunately most people in the hobby are not interested in promoting it at all.

Our club has several hundred members yet the same 10 people turn out to do outreach or dark-sky nights. Last year I had over 2000 people look through my scopes at outreach, I know for a fact that several of them have since joined the club and bought equipment.

We have several very good astrophotographers, variable star observers etc in the club but I have never seen any of them at any of the organised events of the club, they are there for the monthly meetings and that is about it.... I doubt that in a decade we will have any brick&mortar astro outlets in Australia......

[AndyG (Andy)]

Originally Posted by Rainmaker

The problem for retailers is that amateur astronomy as a hobby/pastime is ageing.... <snip> ... I doubt that in a decade we will have any brick&mortar astro outlets in Australia......

This is at least 60% true of our club in Townsville. At 40, I'm sure I'm the youngest active member.

Regarding stores, that depends on where you live. In Townsville, we have no real stores, it's mail order or nothing. I had to wait a year to visit my first real Astro shop (which was in Osaka, of all places). Going to Astro Anarchy in Brisbane was also an adventure.

I'd go so far to say that for people outside of the capitals, having real shops go mail order only would make zero difference. That said, I have 0% awareness what proportion of customers are within/out of driving distance of an astro showroom.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Deeper discounts??????? Where and on which planet?
Everything is still way too expensive

[that_guy (Tony)]

I found that the newer members of clubs and events are getting younger. Now that social media is a huge part of sharing astrophotos people are becoming more inspired to give the hobby a try.

[lazjen (Chris)]

Club membership might be aging for certain clubs, but I think there's growth overall - it's easier and cheaper to get gear and get help online. You probably don't need as much club assistance you might have in the past.

I think it's probably because more people are doing imaging vs visual (or both) too. If you're doing imaging, you're mostly likely doing gotos, plate solving, etc - you don't need to learn the sky as much (positioning/mapping). That learning process in the past would probably have been easier with mentors, etc helping.

Also, "we" as a society have become more anti-social buggers in RL, so being with other people in a club is "ugh".