R.I.P. Ritz Camera
Filed under: Technology, Relationships, Bankruptcy
Ritz camera is throwing in the towel and looking to either sell or liquidate all its remaining stores. It's been a bad month for the photography business, first Kodachrome goes away and now Ritz. Founded in 1918, the single camera shop grew to roughly 800 stores following the acquisition of rival Wolf Camera in the early part of this decade. But Ritz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February and half those stores were shuttered in an attempt to restructure. On Wednesday, Ritz called it quits and announced that if it can't find a buyer, it will auction off assets by the end of this month.
It's difficult to defend a business model that can't succeed on its own merits, but I was really rooting for Ritz. Full disclosure: I write a Better Business Column for the Photo Marketing Association, outlining trends in the photo industry and how retailers can better compete. The ranks of small retailers in this industry is being thinned at a pretty rapid rate, thanks to digital imaging.
We just don't print digital photos the way we did with film. The mom and pop camera stores, and even the large specialty chains, have become dinosaurs in the digital world. Camera shops make money on the prints and enlargements. Cameras, like most electronics today, have such slim margins a store can't possible stay open on hardware sales alone.
A lot gets lost with these store closings and I don't just mean jobs. Sure, these 400 stores nationally will help contribute to unemployment and store vacancy statistics, but it's the knowledge small specialty retailers have that will be the real loss here.
These are the specialists who stay on top of trends, go to trade shows and take continuing education seriously. They don't just know photography, but love it. Store managers and clerks are often photographers themselves, both professional and amateur. They use the products on display and have a rich history to relate. Mass retailers just can't replicate this experience.
Ritz claims to have two interested buyers for the business. Photography fans should keep their fingers crossed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-09-2009 @ 12:03PM
Alan said...
Sad to see them go, spent 15 years with them, mostly back in the heyday of photography during the 1980s. Hope everything works out for them. Good luck David, Linda, and everyone!
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7-09-2009 @ 2:51PM
Sara said...
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Reply
7-09-2009 @ 9:03PM
Rooter guy said...
Sara, your FOS, but if you and your Mom come by later i'll clean both your colons at no charge. We'll sit at the bar and I'll be a real gentileman and push both your stools in-ok?
7-10-2009 @ 12:10AM
Van said...
For those of you full of crap.
7-09-2009 @ 3:08PM
Florence Richards said...
I really hate to see them go. I have been going to them for 10 years and I find the staff friendly and very knowledgeable. I've tried other places, and my pictures just don't come out as well.
It's a sad day.
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7-09-2009 @ 3:48PM
a guy said...
Welcome to the world of technology!!!!! Less jobs!!!! Chain stores closing down!!!!! Unemployment at the highest level since the Great Depression!!!!! And, instead of actually WORKING to improve our economy, we send our manufacturing jobs overseas!!!! WAY TO GO!!!!!
I am unemployed and disabled. But I am not relying on the government to "give me" a job. I am doing whatever I can do to get by.
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7-10-2009 @ 1:48PM
Chris said...
Well said my friend, well said
7-09-2009 @ 3:59PM
luette said...
Another casualty in the ever growing wake of the great government idea of "help"
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7-10-2009 @ 5:11PM
steve said...
Government had nothing to do with this. Changing technologies and consumer habits have everything to do with Ritz closing. Unfortunately, all those pictures that you are printing out at home will begin to fade in a couple of years.
7-09-2009 @ 4:47PM
Dallas said...
Not all 'progress' is good. Because the new batteries I put in my digital camera were weak already when I bought them, I lost my pictures. I had taken 18 pictures of the 20 available on my camera when the low battery warning sounded. When I went to download those pictures, I found that I had lost them all. Those moments are something that can never be replaced. That never happened to me with real film. My Poloroid camera makes a nice paperweight. I can no longer use my pocket 110 camera because I can't find film for it so I carry my 35 mm with me. I won't use the digital camera for important pictures anymore. I'm not sure what I will do when they stop making 35 mm film. And I miss my camera store.
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7-20-2009 @ 8:09PM
dannyb said...
regarding "Dallaspop" and the lost digital photos. Unless you specifically reformatted the memory card (and sometimes even then), there's a pretty good chance those photos can be retrieved. Basically the deal is that the images are still there, but the indexing hiccuped. There are recovery software options ranging in price from zero to very cheap, and a bunch of them will freely show you a low quality "preview" of what they can retrieve. (They'll ask for money for a full fix).
7-09-2009 @ 4:51PM
MrDoughnut said...
They can't find a buyer but have 2 interested buyers? Makes real sense right?
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7-09-2009 @ 5:03PM
Susan said...
Another casualty of the recession.
http://amazingcouponanddiscountdeals.blogspot.com
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7-09-2009 @ 5:11PM
MrDoughnut said...
Ritz sold some hard to find products like tripod fixtures for binoculors, mini flexable tripods, and a tripod that reached over 6 ft high. They even sold the battery pack when the Motorola Tac phones required a expensive battery. It took "AA" batteries with the Ritz battery pack saving you a lot of money. The battery pack lasted longer than the rechargable battery. Ritz carried the extra hard to find things that consumers are going to miss if this place closes.
They sold various binoculors that when attached to the 6 ft tripod inabled you to view the stars at night comfortably. The variable binoculors with a zoom let you draw the stars in close!
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7-09-2009 @ 5:24PM
MrDoughnut said...
Get those hard to find things because you will not see them again!
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7-09-2009 @ 5:31PM
nick said...
Chalk another failure up to the Obama slime machine.
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7-09-2009 @ 5:49PM
Tracey said...
It's really sad that photography has come to this. I actually got my Associates Degree in Photography and used to make a good living. Now I'm reduced to working at Wal-Mart taking kiddie pictures for 8 bucks a head, and that doesn't even pay for groceries. People lately haven't even been hiring photographers for their own weddings, using free friends who can manage to keep their fingers out of the lens. I never thought almost 20 years ago photography would be obsolete. Digital cameras weren't even thought of, much less the internet. Photo labs inside of Wal-Marts in the Chicagoland area are even shutting down. It's so bad I'm back in college again. God help me if Nursing ever goes out of business!
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7-09-2009 @ 6:04PM
sue said...
Hey there Sara, aka Colon Cleanse Creepazoid. Your desperate bids to drum up business are pathetic. I don't think the cleanse has worked well for you since you obviously have s**t for brains.
Reply
7-09-2009 @ 6:29PM
Fortune said...
Tracey, I know exactly what you mean. People have no respect for photography anymore because of that damn digital crap. A friend of mine had a friend who used to marvel at my friend's work. Then the so-called friend got a digital camera and starting making snarky comments to my friend like "What you do isn't that special."
What a turnaround! (I'd have dumped that a--hole, personally.) It just shows that people like you and me, who have studied at our craft, and worked hard, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, "don't get no respect" anymore. Photography is an art, and a craft, and most amateurs just don't get it. Neiher does most of the public now. I'm switching careers--to counseling psychology. Maybe I can counsel burned-out photographers. They'll need it.
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7-09-2009 @ 9:25PM
Ex-employee said...
Just like Circuit City, they deserve what they get. Companies should not be in business if they cannot treat their employees right. They are finally getting what was coming to them. I am happy to see this moment come my year is now complete!
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