Ritz & Wolf Camera begins Liquidation

[drg]

Late last evening news began to spread that Ritz Camera is selling out all remaining inventory in several hundred stores destined for sale or closure. Like the recent Circuit City sell off, great deals probably won't be widely available. Older merchandise, or even hard to find accessories will obviously be snapped up quickly.
The Bankruptcy court approved these actions as part of ongoing attempts to reorganize and save some portion of the business.

A link to Berkshire Hathaway Business Wire news site:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...48&newsLang=en


Wolf Camera, owned by Ritz, is liquidating 400 stores as well.

See this link for Wolf news:

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/...0/daily59.html

I really don't mean to be the grim reaper of PR as I mentioned to Megan in the post regarding Helen Levitt's death.

[OldClicker]

Here is a store lst. - TF

http://mms.businesswire.com/bwapps/m...d=1&download=1

[opus]

Thanks! Only one in wisconsin, and it's not the one near me. Good to know. Nice guys at the one by me. (too bad I had to cancel my order with them)

[freygr]

Only one in Oregon also, and it's a 4 hour drive over the Cascade's from me! (mountain range passes at 4100 & 4800 feet and it still snows).

[jorgemonkey]

The close to me closed down. My father in law is a UPS driver that delivers to it, and he mentioned that they were shipping all their expensive stuff to a store thats staying open to try to sell it off at a higher price. By the time I got to the store, they didn't have very much left.

[another view]

Anybody listen to NPR's This American Life? Good story last week interviewing the employees of a Circuit City store being liquidated. Actually I can think of a lot of adjectives to describe it (sad, surprising, disappointing, etc).

A guy I work with brought it up yesterday. Neither of us had been in one of their stores for years (Ritz left town four years ago) but we wondered how much that "business model" really works these days. We both thought of them as essentially a Best Buy type store without TV's (but obviously with more camera stuff). I can see local independents making it if they're good to their customers even though prices are higher, one great example of that here. Kelly made a positive comment about one store; wonder if that's maybe an unusual case.

[Speed]

I always look for camera stores when I go out of town, and Ritz and Wolf were the ones I usually found. The nearest Ritz Camera to me is in Myrtle Beach (three hours away). Every year when the wife and I go on vacation, I always make a point to stop in there and look around.

I actually bought my first SLR (N80) from a Ritz Camera here in NC. It was an hour and a half from home. They closed that store years ago.

As for the independants, the good ones will make it. I buy practically all of my camera gear from B&H online, and from ASAP photo in Greenville. They are friendly, knowledgeable, and while more expensive than B&H, sometimes they have exactly what I'm looking for so I get it. I hope they continue to hang in there, and given their knowledge and friendliness, I suspect that they will.

[Loupey]

The close to me closed down. My father in law is a UPS driver that delivers to it, and he mentioned that they were shipping all their expensive stuff to a store thats staying open to try to sell it off at a higher price. By the time I got to the store, they didn't have very much left.

Understandable business move but unfortunate for the consumer.

Quite a different scenario than the Circuit City liquidation when it was the entire chain. During that liquidation, I went to two CC stores in my neighborhood two months after they started the process (and about 2 weeks before they finally sold off the shelves themselves) and they still had Canon 50D's, XSi's, and XS's sitting on the shelves at 30% off what B&H was selling them. They even had some Nikon's and Sony's (don't remember which models). Goes to show how the economy is taking a hit even in the face of such discounting.

[Loupey]

As for the independants, the good ones will make it. I buy practically all of my camera gear from B&H online, and from ASAP photo in Greenville. They are friendly, knowledgeable, and while more expensive than B&H, sometimes they have exactly what I'm looking for so I get it. I hope they continue to hang in there, and given their knowledge and friendliness, I suspect that they will.

I'm not so sure about that. As on-line shopping becomes ever so common, the small local stores will have even more to compete with.

It's difficult to put a price on convenience and friendliness available at the local shop. I can certainly understand the popularity of on-line shopping. Information and knowledge is easy to tap into without resorting to the "counter talk" at the shop. Evolution of retail.

I've purchased everything from local stores (except for a 500mm, hyperdrive, and two memory cards) in which I have known the salemen for years. A couple I've worked with for over a decade. Great service but they are scrambling to carve out enough business for themselves.

[jetrim]

I went to two CC stores in my neighborhood two months after they started the process (and about 2 weeks before they finally sold off the shelves themselves) and they still had Canon 50D's, XSi's, and XS's sitting on the shelves at 30% off what B&H was selling them.

Interesting, because we went to the local one here in search of a deal on a new LCD TV about a month into the liquidation. We ended up walking next door to Tiger Direct (the computer world equivelant of B&H who bought up all the old CompUSA stores in the area) and purchased a Toshiba 26" for $100 LESS than the cheapest 17" Circuit City had left.

[another view]

Interesting, because we went to the local one here in search of a deal on a new LCD TV about a month into the liquidation. We ended up walking next door to Tiger Direct (the computer world equivelant of B&H who bought up all the old CompUSA stores in the area) and purchased a Toshiba 26" for $100 LESS than the cheapest 17" Circuit City had left.

I didn't know that Tiger Direct had any "real" stores, thought it was online only. We lost our CompUSA and as expensive as it was, I'm surprised how much I miss it. Sure, Best Buy and Guitar Center (believe it or not) have Mac stuff but neither has much of it. I just bought a new battery for my laptop, and went to B&H - pretty sure one wasn't available locally. I know any store who sells Mac stuff could have ordered it, but so can I - they're not adding any value this way.

With the This American Life episode I mentioned above, the story mentioned that before the first day under control by the liquidators they raised all prices. Business that day was better than it had been in weeks! Caveat Emptor...

[Ultra Magnus]

ouch, so no 70-200 2.8's going for the price of a kit lens? There's one an hour from home in a mall that my wife frequents far too frequently. I might pop in to look around. I need a tripod, I love some lenses, but taxes killed me... Long gone are the days of fat refunds...

BM

[jetrim]

I didn't know that Tiger Direct had any "real" stores, thought it was online only. We lost our CompUSA and as expensive as it was, I'm surprised how much I miss it.

I *believe* they hold 9 retail stores across South FL. They always had 1 location at the Mall of the Americas in Miami, but only added the others this year.

[opus]

I imagine whether a business stays open or not depends on their personal finances and business model. A local independent bookstore chain that has been around for a century is closing ... but that doesn't mean all local independent bookstores are closing. I imagine that this little chain just didn't have the reserves to weather the storm, despite its immense local popularity.

[another view]

A local independent bookstore chain that has been around for a century is closing ...

I am afraid I might know which one you're talking about, if they have a location in Brookfield - I've been there several times but can't remember the name. Too bad, it was really a great store.

bmadau, personally I never understood the attraction of a big tax refund - it just means the State and/or Federal government had free use of your money for the last year. I'd just as soon hang on to it myself!