Maybe another chance for low price Pentax accessories

Rufus T. Firefly · 07-09-2009, 03:30 PM

Ritz Camera's 400 stores heading to auction...

Quote:

By Tom Hals

Wilmington, Del., July 8 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. chain of photography stores, Ritz Camera Centers Inc, will auction its approximately 400 stores by the end of July, possibly to be liquidated, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court.

The company, which had 800 stores when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, said it no longer had enough funds to purchase fall inventory and continue operations, forcing it to sell the remaining locations.

The rest of the story: Ritz Camera's 400 stores heading to auction | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

MRRiley · 07-09-2009, 03:53 PM

Personal opinion...

Ritz should have gotten rid of even more stores in the first round of downsizing and then they should have shifted their business model to cater to the advanced amateur to professional markets. They simply could not compete with Walmart and Best Buy (etc) in the P&S market and couldn't compete with drugstores and Costco in the mass photo processing fields. If they had upscaled their service in communities that lack high end camera stores their business would have filled an empty niche and could have vastly changed their current "7-11 of camera stores" image...

Every time I walked into Ritz (even when my daughter worked there) I expected to have the salesman ask if I "wanted a squishy with that?"

I've asked my daughter to check with the managers she knows to see if there is ANY Pentax stuff left at any of the northern VA stores.

Mike

**Rondec** · 07-10-2009, 04:11 AM

I am afraid that we are going to see the end of small free standing stores. It seems as though there is too much cost associated with each store and not that much benefit to the consumer. I think the biggest enemy of these stores isn't Best Buy or Walmart, it is the internet. When I can type in "Pentax K20" on Google Checkout and find my cut rate deal on a camera brick and mortor stores just can't compete.

**baldeagle21b** · 07-10-2009, 04:43 AM

Originally posted by MRRiley

Personal opinion...

Ritz should have gotten rid of even more stores in the first round of downsizing and then they should have shifted their business model to cater to the advanced amateur to professional markets. They simply could not compete with Walmart and Best Buy (etc) in the P&S market and couldn't compete with drugstores and Costco in the mass photo processing fields. If they had upscaled their service in communities that lack high end camera stores their business would have filled an empty niche and could have vastly changed their current "7-11 of camera stores" image...

Mike

25 stores in their top 10 markets would have done it, I think. The indy shops still in business in my area cater to the advanced amateur /semipro with in-store seminars, field trips, imaging galleries, etc in addition to the sales end of the business, and they seem to be doing OK.

GLXLR · 07-12-2009, 10:16 PM

They do have a website too, but that doesn't really have fair prices now does it?

PeteyJ · 07-13-2009, 12:24 AM

I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff).

Ratmagiclady · 07-15-2009, 09:39 AM

Originally posted by PeteyJ

I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff).

Ritz has always seemed to suffer under the notion that motivational seminars for middle management can make a camera store without enough stock to be a useful camera store.

Mom and Pop stores build up a clientele and get foot traffic from enthusiasts and others that the Ritz shops that drove them out just don't get.

Only takes a few times hearing, 'No, we've got nothing like that,' 'We don't have this kind of film cause we don't sell film, which means to us film is dying,' ...to not end up buying *any* film there. Or not even go looking for this or that needful thing anymore. Especially when they all look the same as the *last* place you went looking for something and found a bunch of picture frames.

It worked OK for a while (and they of course made more buyouts and expansions) when they were pretty much the best amateur film processing out there in general, but they kind of lost even that when they tried to go digital and let even the processing quality suffer, (possibly so they could sell more digitals.)

But actually all the Ritz McCamera homogeneity and constant inventory-strangling from above of those shops that were able to function as the camera shops they were labeled to be ...is a huge part of what got much of America *out of the habit* of going into local photo shops in the first place.

Basically, the corporation ate photo retail and then started eating themselves till they had nothing much left.

It's not about national sales volume of step rings, it's about being the ones with the step ring someone needs when they need it.

philbaum · 07-16-2009, 03:28 PM

Originally posted by PeteyJ

I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff).

Same in my part of the country. I bought a few small items from them, lens caps and a filter and a bag, but only because they were the only store nearby. But not a store anyone would be proud of. Also had high personnel turnover, which says a lot.

07-09-2009, 03:30 PM	#1
Rufus T. Firefly Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Marshfield MA. Posts: 35	Maybe another chance for low price Pentax accessories Ritz Camera's 400 stores heading to auction... Quote: By Tom Hals Wilmington, Del., July 8 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. chain of photography stores, Ritz Camera Centers Inc, will auction its approximately 400 stores by the end of July, possibly to be liquidated, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court. The company, which had 800 stores when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, said it no longer had enough funds to purchase fall inventory and continue operations, forcing it to sell the remaining locations. The rest of the story: Ritz Camera's 400 stores heading to auction \| Markets \| Markets News \| Reuters

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07-09-2009, 03:53 PM	#2
MRRiley Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sterling, VA, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,275	Personal opinion... Ritz should have gotten rid of even more stores in the first round of downsizing and then they should have shifted their business model to cater to the advanced amateur to professional markets. They simply could not compete with Walmart and Best Buy (etc) in the P&S market and couldn't compete with drugstores and Costco in the mass photo processing fields. If they had upscaled their service in communities that lack high end camera stores their business would have filled an empty niche and could have vastly changed their current "7-11 of camera stores" image... Every time I walked into Ritz (even when my daughter worked there) I expected to have the salesman ask if I "wanted a squishy with that?" I've asked my daughter to check with the managers she knows to see if there is ANY Pentax stuff left at any of the northern VA stores. Mike

07-10-2009, 04:11 AM	#3
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,663	I am afraid that we are going to see the end of small free standing stores. It seems as though there is too much cost associated with each store and not that much benefit to the consumer. I think the biggest enemy of these stores isn't Best Buy or Walmart, it is the internet. When I can type in "Pentax K20" on Google Checkout and find my cut rate deal on a camera brick and mortor stores just can't compete.

07-10-2009, 04:43 AM	#4
baldeagle21b Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 223	Originally posted by MRRiley Personal opinion... Ritz should have gotten rid of even more stores in the first round of downsizing and then they should have shifted their business model to cater to the advanced amateur to professional markets. They simply could not compete with Walmart and Best Buy (etc) in the P&S market and couldn't compete with drugstores and Costco in the mass photo processing fields. If they had upscaled their service in communities that lack high end camera stores their business would have filled an empty niche and could have vastly changed their current "7-11 of camera stores" image... Mike 25 stores in their top 10 markets would have done it, I think. The indy shops still in business in my area cater to the advanced amateur /semipro with in-store seminars, field trips, imaging galleries, etc in addition to the sales end of the business, and they seem to be doing OK.

07-12-2009, 10:16 PM	#5
GLXLR Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Sugar Land, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 684	They do have a website too, but that doesn't really have fair prices now does it?

07-13-2009, 12:24 AM	#6
PeteyJ Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Chicago/Cleveland Posts: 176	I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff).

07-15-2009, 09:39 AM	#7
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by PeteyJ I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff). Ritz has always seemed to suffer under the notion that motivational seminars for middle management can make a camera store without enough stock to be a useful camera store. Mom and Pop stores build up a clientele and get foot traffic from enthusiasts and others that the Ritz shops that drove them out just don't get. Only takes a few times hearing, 'No, we've got nothing like that,' 'We don't have this kind of film cause we don't sell film, which means to us film is dying,' ...to not end up buying any film there. Or not even go looking for this or that needful thing anymore. Especially when they all look the same as the last place you went looking for something and found a bunch of picture frames. It worked OK for a while (and they of course made more buyouts and expansions) when they were pretty much the best amateur film processing out there in general, but they kind of lost even that when they tried to go digital and let even the processing quality suffer, (possibly so they could sell more digitals.) But actually all the Ritz McCamera homogeneity and constant inventory-strangling from above of those shops that were able to function as the camera shops they were labeled to be ...is a huge part of what got much of America out of the habit of going into local photo shops in the first place. Basically, the corporation ate photo retail and then started eating themselves till they had nothing much left. It's not about national sales volume of step rings, it's about being the ones with the step ring someone needs when they need it.

07-16-2009, 03:28 PM	#8
philbaum Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Port Townsend, Washington State, USA Posts: 3,659	Originally posted by PeteyJ I don't know how Ritz is elsewhere across the country, but the store I walked into the other day in that Water Tower area of Chicago is absolute crap. A few tripods, some memory cards, a small selection of lenses, NO cameras, and a crap ton of budget processing and scrapbooking services and supplies. If all of their stores are like that, then I'm not surprised they're closing. Meanwhile, the local mom and pop Central Camera in Chicago's Downtown Loop seems to be doing just fine, despite higher equipment prices than what can be found online (although they do have some great deals on used stuff). Same in my part of the country. I bought a few small items from them, lens caps and a filter and a bag, but only because they were the only store nearby. But not a store anyone would be proud of. Also had high personnel turnover, which says a lot.