In a direct response to Bell’s acquisition of “The Source – by Circuit City” earlier this year, Telus has purchased Black’s Photography for approximately $28 Million. This provides Telus with an additional 113 retail outlets, a far cry from the 750 new retail outlets that Bell’s acquisition made for them.
At first glance, it would seem that by buying the photography/imaging company, Telus is focusing (sorry…pardon the pun) on increasing their presence in the malls by having more retail outlets. But when you zoom in 
on the situation, things start to get a bit fuzzy. The Telus retail outlets are usually within feet of the Black’s stores, digital printing/finishing is probably at the lowest point possible since everyone can print at home, at Walmart, or at work on the company printer, and cell phone imagery is a far cry from a quality single purpose camera.
Where is the value to Telus in the Black’s purchase, or was this a $28M investment to stockblock Rogers, Dave or Wind Mobile from getting into the coveted mall environment? Maybe this should be looked at as an anti-trust/monopoly issue….
Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed
