Positive recommendations. Quiggs of Glasgow
Posted by: Richard in Food, Glasgow, House, Personal, Photography, ScotlandIt’s very easy to criticise, much harder to compliment. Certainly when we’ve felt somewhat under siege at times with incompetent companies doing work in our house and leaving us high and dry (here), or going to restaurants and leaving nonplussed about the experience (here and here), letting off some steam on this website is a useful exercise.
It’s not all negatives though. We were happy with our plumber, enjoyed eating in Miso, Ichiban and – of course – my all time favourite noodle bar Chi Noodle – who have had a major facelift and it’s improved further still. The sooner they open up in Glasgow, the more complete my life will be 
So, whilst I do sometimes feel a bit bad about getting negative about places (especially if my google pagerank puts my site higher than theirs), there is – I think – a lot more positive writing up going on on this site than negatives.
I wanted to further that with a non-foody recommendation, and that’s going to hopefully be of interest to Glasgwegian (and Scottish) photographers. If you’ve not already been to Quiggs, then you’re missing out on the best photography shop in town. I was in there this morning hoping to get my Nikon D70 cleaned, and my film camera serviced.
It’s the Achilles heel of Digital SLR’s in that the CCD is behind the reflex mirror and none, as far as I am aware, have any sort of anti-dust system. That means dust can get on the CCD itself, resulting in flecks on pictures (particularly small aperture pictures) that can’t easily be removed with a simple clean (more here). So Quiggs had previously offered to use their high-pressure blower to clean it. And clean it they did. For the grand price of £0. Nadda. Marvellous.
I also wanted to get my film SLR serviced. I’ve not used it in ages, and it’s over 10 years old now, and had the shutter jam on me in San Francisco a few years back, ruining what would otherwise have been some pretty stunning pictures of the park and Yosemite national park. But a quick look, and a bit of a play, and they gave it a bit of a clean, and said it didn’t need anything. It was in excellent enough condition. My jam was probably my touching it when changing the film, not anything systemic.
So, I stocked up on new film and a new 1Gb Compact Flash, and a new battery for my film SLR. Grand total of about £45 of business. But most of all, the extremely friendly, helpful advise, and the aversion to charging me to do simple or unnecessary things, meant that I walked out of there (briefly; I was barely out of the door when I realise I’d left my new purchases on the counter!) feeling that it’s the best photography shop in Glasgow, and one of the best I’ve been to.
Jessops are the high-street shop most people will be familiar with. But I find it a bit too ‘Dixony’. Too many glass displays, too many ensuited assistants who are too keen to push a sale on you, much less have a passion for photography. The guy I dealt with in Quiggs was friendly, affable and knowledgeable. Sure, Parnie street is a bit off the beaten track, but it’s a nice little spot none the less, and we often park in the Kings Street carpark, so not that far out of our way.
So, go check them out: Quiggs of Glasgow – www.quiggs.co.uk. An excellent shop that deserves to continue for doing everything a photography enthusiast could want, so well.
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July 24th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Quiggs, in Parnie street. This is where I first picked up an SLR, almost 15 years ago. (however i’m sure they were at a different address)
I was guided towards a Practika SLR,a couple of lenses, a couple of rolls of film, flash unit, gadget bag,with a couple of filters, and told to “take it away for a couple of weeks, and see if it is what you want”.
I returned with my newly developed film, and was talked through my pictures, rights and wrongs. I was also sold on photography.
I had also spent very little, but gained so much. I don’t know the names, they don’t know mine, but I do recognise service.
Customer care, at its best. Have reccommended this shop in the past, and will continue to do so.
I knew I wasn’t the only one to be treated this way.
October 13th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Quiggs, in Parnie street
I have to agree with everything already mentioned, similarly to Gerry I bought my first Minolta XG300 plus an 80-200 lens way back in 1982, but recent years of evolving technology, persuaded me to Digital about seven years ago.
I visited Quiggs this week to learn that whilst I was mentally comparing prices with internet locations, I realised that their prices were equally as good and without postage costs or concerns about delivery mishaps or ordering the wrong item in error. Their 77mm skylight filter was £13 cheaper than anyone else and their C/Fash prices were also as good as anywhere. May they continue to offer their good advice and service, as I know I will be be going back.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I know this is a very old posting and I’m sure there are many other good comments to be made about Quiggs.
However, I just wanted to let everyone know that Quiggs is sadly no longer…
The good news however is that a new store – Merchant City Cameras (merchantcitycameras.com) has been opened in it’s place. Even more importantly, it’s the same staf, same stock, same address and same telephone number. The only things that have changed are the name and the owner.
Jim, the new owner is one of the old Quiggs staff and is looking for suggestions of how he can make the already excellent service they provide, even better!
October 18th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Sadly, I think Quiggs have had to close down…the last two ocassions I visited this shop the shutters were down!
November 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am
There were many things wrong with the former owner of Quiggs. Their employees were good but the owner lost the North completly. Furthermore, he no longer cared for the customers and he didnt understand the need to shift the shop towards digital while keeping a smaller stock of high quality classical cameras. He did not understand the importance of internet either. The wrose: his repairs were crap and I got fed up of him, that is why I started to deal with Cameratiks in Edimburgh.
December 11th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I never had too much bother with Quiggs before it closed, although, I never had any repairs done with them. I’ve been going to Cameratiks in Edinburgh also, great place.. it’s like a little goldmine!
As I’ve just realised Quiggs are back open under the name of Merchant City Cameras I might pop in this week and see how things are, and have somewhere a bit more local to visit.