Hi chngpe01,
I totally get you on the supply and demand perspective. =)
That said, I am not surprised at the price.
I am surprised at Cathay's stance to bring the price up > Song's. I have been buying stuff at Cathay since the late 80s, they didn't adopt this practice last time. Times have changed.
Z
it's business... when you have a shop run by your brother, sister, mother, son.... the overheads are lower, if the shop is in a lower cost mall, overheads are lower, if the shop only carry the essential, the overheads are lower... so and so fro.
Thus, smaller stores can afford to go for thinner margins (3.4K quoted by CP is by credit card, I think you can still get another 2-3% lower if you pay by cash) while CP being a full service store, they have to get a healthier margin.
Net, if you prefer to run around for all the photographic needs or not on the priority list, do go for the best price (make economic sense) but if you want to focus all your spending in 1 location so you get better service and priority listing, then find one that can meets all your needs but be prepared to pay a slight premium.
however, we do have people who just focused on the lowest pricing (definitely nothing wrong with this) but start to bitch when they can't get something they wanted from the full service shop although it is available but reserved for the regular customers. basically, you are not their regular customer, so they do not need to prioritize you.