I bought my first digital camera at Ritz Camera in San Antonio Tx. It was a coolpix 950.

Also some lenses like 80-200 2.8 and 18-35, and a F100. They used to have a good stock of Nikon products.

Just a note.... some of the stores which are open and trying to clear all the inventory have some deals....and the prices drop weekly. A place to grab some margins...small items one would not ordinarily purchase from our wonderful sponsors.......

I must say I am not shocked but suprised, I thought they might escape but nope. I guess my gripe would be; I now have nobody in my area to develop certain types of film, Costco and Walmart just don't offer the services. In some instances they had to send it out as well but at least I got it done. Of course film is going away even faster with cameras like the D800 coming out. Every so often I just have the urge to pull out my F5 and concentrate on what I am doing, digital made me lazy.

tcole983

If you ever get down to Nashville, Tn, there is a great camera store in the downtown area called Durys. They close on Saturdays at 2PM I think. I know they carry Nikon, but not sure about anything else. I think it is more geared to professionals, but I have always been treated well there.

Ritz/Wolf/Camera World stores Going out of Business sale starts today. Twenty to forty percent off, all sales are final.

Five stores reportedly will reopen on November 1 under new management.

TaoTeJared said:
If you read the article you will see that someone bought their On-line business and a few (5-6) of the profitable stores. 137 stores will close. I'm not sure what all the stores were, I know some were franchised and nothing said a thing about them. If you buy from online, returns won't be an issue but I didn't see any deals there at all. If there are stores in your area, it might be a good time to get albums etc.

Any Ritz/Wolf stores went out of business many, many years ago around me. So did Circuit City - maybe 12 years ago? I didn't even know any still existed to be honest. Best Buy stock stinks here too. There is a large local photo company that has 3 stores, which for Nebraska, is huge, (consider there are only 5 Best Buys between Omaha and Lincoln) so they have a better selection. Believe it or not, they got the first D800s in the country - even before B & H and have had a steady supply ever since. That is how I got mine. Any other local stores closed about 10 years ago. The rough thing for any photo company is the stock that sits - very pricey and doesn't move fast at all.

Circuit City only went bust in 2009! I liked the choice between Circuit City and Best Buy. Now there really is just Best Buy and Best Buy for me.

Honestly, even Best Buy isn't doing so well. I think large established stores with few locations might actually do very well in the long run- Adorama, B and H or J and R because they retain only one store or so but can ship everywhere else. I practically don't buy from Best Buy anymore unless I have a gift card, and even then I just use it as a showroom. At the very least, B and H doesn't need to lose money on renting out huge plots of land, which in my opinion, Best Buy expanded too quickly.

TTJ - Thanks for the info.

I think it is just a sign of the times. Remember, many of these retailers grew substantially during the decade prior to the financial collapse. Many took on too much debt in their rush to expand and many built much of their business on those who were living beyond their means with credit and home equity loans. When the economy tanked the first thing to go was discretionary spending by consumers. Circuit City lost the battle and Best Buy is currently struggling to survive. Many of these big box retailers have become nothing more than product displayers to many consumers who look for bargains on line. They can go to the retailer and examine the products, decide what they want, then shop on line to get better prices and/or avoid sales taxes. Ritz/Wolf is an even more challenging operation because of the limited merchadise. And, I am just presuming they are debt laden as that is typically what drives a bankruptcy filing.

The future in retailing probably belongs to small local shops who have expertise and unique "value added" services, much smaller store fronts for national chains who will use central warehouses for product delivery, and the large wholesalers and Internet companies.

More and more people will have to find expertise in on-line forums such as NR, as there will likely continue to be a decline in the knowledge base of retailers as they strive to reduce labor costs.

If you read the article you will see that someone bought their On-line business and a few (5-6) of the profitable stores. 137 stores will close. I'm not sure what all the stores were, I know some were franchised and nothing said a thing about them. If you buy from online, returns won't be an issue but I didn't see any deals there at all. If there are stores in your area, it might be a good time to get albums etc.

Any Ritz/Wolf stores went out of business many, many years ago around me. So did Circuit City - maybe 12 years ago? I didn't even know any still existed to be honest. Best Buy stock stinks here too. There is a large local photo company that has 3 stores, which for Nebraska, is huge, (consider there are only 5 Best Buys between Omaha and Lincoln) so they have a better selection. Believe it or not, they got the first D800s in the country - even before B & H and have had a steady supply ever since. That is how I got mine. Any other local stores closed about 10 years ago. The rough thing for any photo company is the stock that sits - very pricey and doesn't move fast at all.

@ tcole1983... well, I must admit, the inventory at Ritz had disappeared over the years but there was at least one knowledgeable individual. Another shop within a 50 mile radius apparently does not like woman, and after I was brushed off rudely, I spent my $$$ at B & H. It is sad, again, that the old camera stores of the 1960's and 70's where there was knowledge and courtesy have ceased to exist around my area.

@msmoto Maybe your store is different then the one by my house. The only time I went in the store here was when I was going to buy my D5000. The sales person had no idea what they were talking about and they didn't have any pro level equipment. They had only 2 or 3 Nikon bodies (D3000, D5000, and D90) and only a handful of lenses. Of course they could order ones had I wanted, but their prices were higher then anywhere else...and I might as well order it on my own in that case.

Not saying I like to look at camera gear at best buy either. The people are generally just as unknowledgeable about the cameras and most of the time unhelpful. That and the damn alarm goes off every time I try to pick one up and look at it because the thing is faulty :)

We have a large camera store downtown here, but I have found the people to be fairly rude and once again the prices don't compete with any of those on the internet. I don't know...gosh I don't want someone pressuring me into buying something, but I would like someone knowledgeable about the equipment were I to have a question and sheesh if I am going to spend what I consider a lot of money I would like them to not be rude. I went into this store not too long ago as I hadn't been in there since the last time I walked out maybe a year or two ago after being frustrated with them...I was once again mostly ignored and never was able to actually look at anything or have someone help me. Maybe I need to bring in my $5000 worth of camera gear for them to notice me?? The store was fairly empty at the time also.

Ritz was the last "Pro" Nikon dealer in my area. One cannot find any decent glass at Circuit City, best Buy, or the other discount houses in my area. I find their demise saddening at best. I do not know what business practices may have contributed to this, but as specialty stores go out of business the general trend as I have observed it, is to see less expertise, less excitement about the products and more of a "self service" Walmart atmosphere.

Having said this, there will always be folks who have an interest in doing a good job and it was at a Walmart I found a camera guy who was really quite knowledgable and interesting to talk to. So, what do i know?

tcole1983 said:
Hmmm doesn't surprise me. Best buy had a better selection of camera equipment then the one around here. Oh yeah and overpriced what they did have. Their discount might just bring the prices down to normal retail.

Honestly, I think Circuit City had the best camera selection on hand. I think I had already gotten a DSLR at that point when they went bust, but right before that I went and got a analog TV signal converter box from Circuit City and I was pleasantly surprised to see DSLRs on display, without having you to ask for it under a locked glass box.

The problem I see is no returns. If you get stuck with a lemon you are in repair hell. It would have to be ~60% of retail for me to risk it.

Hmmm doesn't surprise me. Best buy had a better selection of camera equipment then the one around here. Oh yeah and overpriced what they did have. Their discount might just bring the prices down to normal retail.

Looks like Ritz/Wolf is finely biting the dust.

Might be some good deals to be had!

(Reuters) - Ritz Camera & Image LLC plans to go out of business after 94 years as it failed in a bankruptcy auction to find a buyer to keep the largest U.S. specialty camera retail chain open.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday approved a plan to turn over most of Ritz's assets to liquidation specialists Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC and Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, the high bidders at a September 6 auction, court records show.

"The debtors received no bid to purchase substantially all of the debtors' business and assets as a going concern," and believes a sale to the liquidators "will result in the realization of the maximum amount possible," Chief Restructuring Officer Marc Weinsweig said in a court filing.

C&A Marketing Inc, an online retailer, acquired Ritz's websites and several of its biggest stores. Ridgefield Park, N.J.-based C&A said in a statement it plans to keep between five and seven stores open.

The rest of Ritz's 137 locations will close.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-ritzcamera-bankruptcy-idUSBRE88919920120910