HOT news ---York Optical Sydney Branch has closed

[h0ughy]

York optical in Sydney has closed. Bintel Astro optical and Andrews has won and puched them out of the market place. For those with gear tied up with them you can ge t them on the phone for the minute, but the rest of the stuff is being distributed through to Melbourne and Brisbane

current contact details for the next 8 days
YORK OPTICAL COMPANY PTY LTD
92 Wentworth Ave Sydney (cnr Campbell Street) 2000 (02) 9211 1606

[Rodstar]

That's a pity...I dropped in a couple of times and chatted with the boys...nice guys, although the stock looked pretty tired. They had a C-11 on display. I asked how many of those they had sold, and the answer was "None". It had apparently been there several years, but evoked no interest.

Business can be tough. I wish them all the best in their other states' enterprises.

[Astroman]

and they didnt give it away, awwwwww.....

Sorry to hear for those in sydney,not sure but never really liked their website, without actual prices on it, made me turn away for a couple of items, I mean what does >$3000 really mean? $3001 or $15,000. Why hide the price of an item?

Anyway, does this mean the other two? stores will be feeling the pinch....

[norm]

Astro-Opticals does that, not York Opticals which is very annoying. I mean why hide a price, it just turns people off completely.
That said, its a shame York is closing down, its been there for a long time. Even though I've never purchased anything from there, they donated the binos to my Astro Club which I won in in a raffle, in which got me back into astronomy, which in turn led me here....:confuse3: :)

[ving]

less competition may drive prices up? :(

[GrampianStars]

G'day Ving
there's plenty of competition from the US to keep prices stable
what with online puchase and delivery comparable with the local guys :juggle:

[rochler]

Yeah, I hafta admit, I'm one of those people who are also turned off by sites with no price lists. I mean, what encourages you to contact them if they are secretive about pricing? Why would you bother?

I will only deal with sites that show their prices up front.

Fred (>20 hehe....)

[Astroman]

Oops sorry my mistake, so long since I have been to their website....

Appologies to anyone associated to york optical and/or any other company associated with them. York prices are still a bit high though....

[acropolite]

When it comes to dealers, I have to agree with rochler, several things put me off, no prices, no stock, and particularly no method of contact by phone. I dealt with York optical recently and the service was good, and the item was in stock although the prices were a little too high for repeat business.

[Starkler]

I think we have a lot to be grateful for with the likes of Andrews and AOE for bringing real competition into the astro marketplace :whistle:

[Striker]

I can see why they never sold a C11 OTA.....their price $4825 Andrews price $3000.

They have always been too expensive for me.

[beren]

There used to be a York optical francise in Perth before the owner decided to go alone and form BTOW and became a Meade agent {looks like BTOW has stopped selling meade gear now though :confuse3: }

[Robert_T]

same here, though I like the Brisbane York guys and find them very helpful - and would have liked to buy local to Brisbane - I just couldn't stomach paying >$500 more for the same C9.25 OTA I purchased off Andrews...

[Roger Davis]

York Optical started in 1949 in Melbourne by Martin Gertler who was quickly joined by a mate, Arthur Geddes. It was situated in Somerset Place, off Elizabeth St, which was behind Martins brothers magic (as in sleight of hand) shop, Bernard the Magician. The shopping complex on the corner was called York House. Martin and Arthur ran York Optical until Arthur retired after heart problems in about 1972. Arthur went on to make mirrors for people under his company UltraView Optics until his death in 1998, he was the Mark Suchting of his time (6-20" optics any optical configuration). He was good friends with Bill James and they collaborated in a few projects. Arthur was the first in Australia to import Guan Sheng products. Martin continued to run York Optical with Jack Surry as his offsider until the mid to late 80's. In about 1988-9 Martin sold York Optical to Klaus Missins who was operating his own optical company in Perth. In 1991-2 Klaus opened his York Brisbane shop and a couple of years later the York Sydney office appeared.

That's how York Optical began with just a bit of history thrown in.

[shredder]

I bought from them several times. Just small stuff mind you, nothing like a scope or anything. I actually found their prices to be competitive (at least on the stuff I looked at) the problem was the web site wasnt updated often or reflective of the real price given if you went to the shop. They were quite helpfull too. Anyway for me they were just in too difficult a place to get to really (I generally like to see what I buy first), and always felt like a little bit of a strange setup too.

I do recall going in once and seeing a C11 which had the corrector plate smashed (looked a little like it was hit by a truck) quite an unusual thing to see, and when I asked about it they said the owner bought it, took it home, and promptly dropped it (with the resulting dammage), looked a little like it was dropped of the 2nd story to me.... but it was a new model and that was probably at most 18 months back, so I think they did sell some new models.....

Anyway that is how life goes, competition drives prices down, and you need to be competitive to survive and have a low cost base. I would assume the inner city rent probably killed them more than anything. Lets hope not too many more go that way or we will be left with little choice. As an asside I believe they are also the sole importers of Celestron into Australia (through the Brisbane office under then name of Vision or something similar...), I wonder how this sits with ongoing Celestron products?

Michael

[Robby]

I suspect with the recent sale of Celestron to Synta, existing EDA's probably no longer apply as Celestron is often now re-branded Orion or SkyWatcher.
Perhaps I am wrong, but it's just a comment... Sorry off-topic! Being in NZ I never had any dealing with York, but running a small business myself I really feel for them. It's not a nice thing to have to close.
If the York guys read this... "good luck to you for any future endeavours"
Cheers

[Robert_T]

Extravision in Brisbane are the importers. They supply to others beside York - Andrews for example.

cheers,

[shredder]

I was actually under the impression that Extravision either owned York or maybe its the other way around, was more what I was getting at. Which is why I think they never had too many people selling Celestron of late.

[mickoking]

I always found York/ BTOW in Perth quite expensive and lacking in stock so I buy most things astronomical from Sydney.

I also dislike websites that don't display prices :mad2:

[Argonavis]

Roger - many thanks for the full history. Some years ago Arthur lived very close to me and I commissioned him to make me a 125mm f6 refractor. He made large binoculars and mirrors and his garage was a treasure trove of optics. He sold me a rather interesting 40mm Kellner with an internal focal plane (it was very long, much like a modern Speers Waler). Even further back in the mists of time I purchased my first pair of 7x50's from that small shop in Somerset Place. Brings back memories.

[Ziggy Stardust]

and also not really keen to help outside of the shop,
I once asked if they could help me set up and reload software of my LX200 12inch at my home, I was willing to pay a call out fee and the going rate, but no bites!!!

seems many shops are loosing the common touch with the joe behind the scope, hey JMHO

Tony

[JoeBlow]

From memory, years back they were very competitive and big in Sydney.

Like Michael said the rent in the inner city must have helped to kill them. But I cant see why they couldn't have moved out to somewhere cheaper. Like you don't need a Telescope shop in the inner city to do business, Andrews Communications being one example.

Also once I was speaking to them and they were telling me that Tasco was buying out celestron which would drive their prices up.

[seeker372011]

that must have been a very long time ago. Tasco did buy Celestron,then Celestron did a managment buy out, then ran into serious trouble over the patent infringment legal battle with meade, tried to merge with Meade, were not allowed to because of anti trust in the US and finally are now owned by the Chinese...

[beren]

Agreed.... felt I would get more service and interest buying a 10 buck toaster from kmart :whistle:

[Roger Davis]

... the Chinese, so that Synta will now own Celestron.
TASCO USA no longer exists, only TASCO Australia.
Synta, became Skywatcher when they started in Canada. The owner of Synta, I understand, now lives in Canada.
See thread: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=7404&page=2

[h0ughy]

:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: More York optical woes

I am careful to note that this shop has closed. I'm not bagging or denigrating them this is merely the truth!!!

A friend of mine and member of IIS has been trying to obtain his baader eyepiece and camera adapter from York optical in Sydney. He bought and paid for these items in January 2006 and has since been waiting for delivery. They had the eyepiece in stock but not camera adapter so did not complete his order all sent out part thereof. As a result they have sat on the order for some time until the closing of the shop. He rang them several times asking that these items be sent to him. Last week they agreed to send him a eyepiece (not one he originally ordered) and adapter however one staff member had taken at home to test. He was told that the eyepiece and adapter was sent by mail on Tuesday. Today he gets a phone call from York demanding payment for the eyepiece and the items have not been sent. He already paid for it by MasterCard and has the item mentioned on his monthly statement. He now has to prove to them that he has paid for it. Please don't get me wrong, but the level of incompetence that has been shown throughout the process I think is a reflection on why this business has closed. My only hope is that he can get his equipment that he has rightfully paid for.:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :doh:

[GrampianStars]

Thanks for the memory Jog
I was living at Grange Adelaide at the time and bought my first Meade from Klaus in Perth in 89'
was the most price competative and proffessional outfit at the time :astron:

[Muddy Diver]

I called them up three weeks ago as I wanted to go and buy my neximage that day. They close at 2.00pm on saturdays! so I asked what their hours were through the week and one week later went to see them for opening time on a wednesday whereupon I was told they had closed permanently. Poor communication but, the guy there was sympahetic and although he had been instructed not to sell anything at a sale price or indeed make any sales at all while transferring the stock, he did me a deal. So I was happy. However, got an opportunity to visit Andrews with my techno geek radio ham boss this morning and discovered they ship celestron parts regularly from Brissy so at least i still have someone in Sydney who might stock celestron. Andrews were $40.00 cheaper for a neximage than York!

I have been told that the owners of the York optical and associuated shops are not astronomy enthusiasts. Simply business and not much care for the hobby so the previous posts ring true. A shame though when the staff person I met obviously is and has achieved a degree in astronomy recently.

[Roger Celestron]

Extravision in Brisbane are the importers. They supply to others beside York - Andrews for example.

Actually, Extravision have not been the importers for over 12 months. It is Sheldon and Hammond in Sydney

[Jen]

Awwwwww :( I have never been into a real astro shop YET :scared3:

[Peter Ward]

What goes around comes around :)

[pgc hunter]

I always found them to be somewhat expensive. Their ad in an old 2001 Sky and Space mag lists a basic 8" dob (what appears to be a Bushnell clone) for 1000 bucks and a 114mm newt for $700!!!

Once when I was buying a high mag eyepiece the guy there got a bit argumentative about its usefulness in my scope.

And yeah, don't like it when websites don't display the price.

[h0ughy]

well i started the thread many years ago and now i close it