Ritz Camera: Bad News and or Good News...

SavedByZero

Depending on how you look at it, it's either bad news but good news too.

Camera Giant's Focus Falters
Recession, Fading of Film Photography Push Ritz to Bankruptcy
By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 24, 2009; Page D01
After 91 years of steady growth that turned it into the nation's largest photography retailer, Ritz Camera is under pressure from the digital age, plummeting consumer confidence and one of the worst financial slumps in generations.

The privately held Beltsville-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Sunday after suffering losses in all of its core businesses: camera sales, photo processing and the Boater's World Marine Centers chain it operates.

Ritz Camera, still run by the family that established it as a portrait studio in Atlantic City in 1918, grew into a retail giant with 800 stores in more than 40 states by gobbling regional photography chains. But the recession has put tremendous pressure on the company, which already was struggling to rebuild sales after consumer interest switched from film to digital products.
Company officials yesterday did not respond to inquiries on whether the filing would prompt the shuttering of any of its 51 Washington area stores or whether any of its 6,424 employees would be laid off.

Ritz joins several other large retailers, including Linens 'N Things and Circuit City, which have filed for bankruptcy protection. But unlike Linens 'N Things, which went out of business, and Circuit City, which is closing next month, Ritz, according to its filing, plans to restructure "to preserve the possibility of being able to . . . continue as a going concern."

(more story in link)
==> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/23/AR2009022302669.html

It's bad news for those who are about to loose their jobs as I recently did from Linens-N-Things closing but now that I'm working again I was able to pick up a NIB vertical grip for my Sony A200 for only $155 w/tax at Circuit City's liquidation sales. saved over $100 on it! So if Ritz does go belly up and liquidated all it's assets and stock it should worth while to see what deals might be there on bodies and lens and the like.

SavedByZero

Ritz Camera going away for good is one step closer today...

[SIZE=+2]Ritz to Exit Boating Business, Seeks to Sell 400 Camera Shops[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; D03
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[SIZE=-1]
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Ritz Camera, trying to raise cash to cover its mounting debt, received approval in bankruptcy court yesterday to begin the process of liquidating the assets at all 130 shops operated by its Boater's World Marine Centers.
Moreover, attorneys for the Beltsville-based company, the nation's largest photography retailer, said they will file a motion on Friday seeking to sell off half of its 800 Ritz camera stores.

The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month to cover more than $54 million in debt to such creditors as Fuji Photo Film, Nikon, Canon USA and Wachovia Bank. A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del., where the case was filed, approved bidding procedures for the sale of the Boater's World assets.

The attorneys for Ritz Camera said the company has received bids from six liquidators and other potential buyers for assets of the marine business, which would be sold at auction on March 17. The attorneys said they would seek court approval to use the same procedure to sell off the 400 Ritz stores in early April.

"The main goal is to move the company back to being a profitable company," said Irving Walker, a Baltimore lawyer who represents Ritz.
"We will liquidate the assets in the less profitable retail stores," Walker said. The company, he added, has not specified which 400 camera stores would be closed. Ritz has a total of 51 stores in the Washington area. "We believe we can reorganize through the Chapter 11 plan and emerge a smaller, better and stronger company."


Ritz is among several major retailers that have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past year. Linens 'N Things and Circuit City, which sought to reorganize, ultimately closed. In its bankruptcy filing last month, Ritz said it wants to "continue as a going concern."

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for today to discuss why bankruptcy protection often fails to save companies like Circuit City.

"In light of the 2005 amendments to Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, the hearing will examine whether Chapter 11 is working as Congress intended," said Jonathan Godfrey, a spokesman for the committee.
Analysts and legal experts were mixed on Ritz's plan to save itself.
"It sounds like they're shedding their losses and going back to their core business," said Mark Millman, president of Millman Search Group, a Baltimore-based retail-consulting firm.

"They're getting rid of unprofitable stores, unloading the ones where the real estate doesn't work for them," he added. "It's a smart move."
But Marc Ominsky, a Greenbelt-based bankruptcy lawyer not involved in the Ritz case, said the tight credit market makes it difficult for any company going through Chapter 11 reorganization to raise cash to pay off debts. "Who's loaning money [for companies] to buy businesses in trouble?" he said.

Ritz began as a single portrait studio on the Atlantic City boardwalk in 1918. It expanded to a photo processing lab at 11th and G streets NW in the District in 1938. Over the years it expanded by buying regional camera shops throughout the country. It established Boater's World in the late 1980s.

The company in its bankruptcy filing blamed its financial problems on customers' switch from film to less-profitable digital products and the economic downturn, which has severely reduced consumer spending on such big-ticket items as camera equipment and boating supplies.
Staff researcher Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.

==> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/10/AR2009031003309.html

At this point the only companies buying other retail companies are the liquidating ones like Hilco and Gordon Brothers.