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Jessops to relaunch online, backed by TV Dragon

Jessops is set to relaunch its website after the Dragons' Den star is among several buyers to carve up the camera chain.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Jessops is about to come back from the grave -- online, anyway. The failed camera chain, alongside HMV and Blockbuster one of the high-profile casualties of the high street's tribulations, is set to relaunch its website.

"The new Jessops website will be launching soon," reads a message at jessops.com, where you can sign up for relaunch updates.

The site also gives contact details if you have a question or complaint related to a problem from before the chain went into administration. 

Although branches of Jessops are shuttered to customers, it's possible that future buyers, or administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers, may look to sell off remaining stock either online or in branches.

A number of buyers have bought the Jessops brand and assorted assets. The biggest name to slice off a portion of the failed camera chain is Dragons' Den dragontrepreneur Peter Jones. Jones is already behind online gadget shop Expansys.

Jessops closed its 187 shops a month ago with the loss of nearly  1,400 jobs, heralding a nightmarish couple of weeks in which HMV and Blockbuster also spiralled into administration.

HMV managed to continue trading throughout and will survive with new owners -- but 66 stores will close.

Jessops Photo, the photo service that prints photo books, calendars, cards and other gifts from your snaps, is still open for business. It's being absorbed by printing service CeWe, which has for the past five years provided the behind the scenes operations for Jessops Photo.

Would you use Jessops online? Have you got unfinished business with the camera-flogger? Give me a snapshot of your thinking down in the comments, or on our Facebook page.