HOT news ---York Optical Sydney Branch has closed

h0ughy (David) · #1 16-02-2006, 02:06 PM

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 (Rod) · #2 16-02-2006, 02:13 PM

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 (Andrew Wall) · #3 16-02-2006, 03:11 PM

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 · #4 16-02-2006, 03:23 PM

Quote:

I mean what does >$3000 really mean? $3001 or $15,000. Why hide the price of an item?

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....

ving (David) · #5 16-02-2006, 03:30 PM

less competition may drive prices up?

GrampianStars (Rob) · #6 16-02-2006, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

less competition may drive prices up?

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

rochler · #7 16-02-2006, 04:02 PM

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 (Andrew Wall) · #8 16-02-2006, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Astro-Opticals does that, not York Opticals

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 (Phil) · #9 16-02-2006, 06:02 PM

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 (Geoff) · #10 16-02-2006, 07:25 PM

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

Striker (Tony) · #11 16-02-2006, 07:42 PM

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 · #12 16-02-2006, 08:39 PM

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

}

Robert_T · #13 16-02-2006, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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 · #14 17-02-2006, 08:16 AM

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 · #15 17-02-2006, 08:56 AM

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 · #16 17-02-2006, 10:17 AM

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 · #17 17-02-2006, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shredder

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

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

cheers,

shredder · #18 17-02-2006, 03:11 PM

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 · #19 17-02-2006, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

}

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

Argonavis (William) · #20 17-02-2006, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Davis

York Optical started in 1949 in Melbourne by Martin Gertler who was quickly joined by a mate, Arthur Geddes. That's how York Optical began with just a bit of history thrown in.

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.