Ritz Camera store closings will affect about 300 stores, while affiliated Boaters World locations going out of business add 129 venues. See a list of Ritz Camera locations going out of business.
Ritz Camera Locations
Ritz Camera, a.k.a. Ritz Camera Centers, is a photofinishing and camera sales giant. This private company was founded in 1918 and is currently headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland. Still family owned, David Ritz is the CEO. The camera store has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a portrait studio and you may find multiple Ritz Camera locations in 38 states. It is this popularity that makes Ritz Camera store closings so impactful on local communities.
Ritz Camera Closing Stores
Reuters reported back in February of 2009 that Ritz Camera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Citing the shift to digital photography that made a lot of photofinishing services obsolete, unprofitable business ventures – i.e. Boaters World — and also the recession, there was talk about Ritz Camera closing stores. This bankruptcy with hope for restructuring gives Ritz Camera some breathing room from Nikon and Canon, two of the company’s biggest creditors.
Ritz Camera Liquidation Sales
In the beginning of March, CoStar alerted consumers that Ritz Camera liquidation sales would commence at 400 of its 800 locations. Affected are all 129 Boaters World locations, as announced by a March 20th press release, eight of which are located in California. Ritz Camera owned Boaters World locations closing are in Torrance, Santa Barbara, San Jose, San Diego, Port Hueneme, Marina Del Rey, Long Beach and Huntington Beach.
Sadly, the Ritz Camera closings do not stop there. California is also rocked by the Ritz Camera liquidation sales at 38 camera locations scheduled for closure (click here for a complete list of Ritz Camera store closings). A good many of these Ritz Camera locations are found in malls, such as the Aliso Viejo Town Center, Santa Anita Fashion Park, Pacific View Mall in Ventura, Temecula Town Center, and also the Foothill Rosemead Marketplace in Pasadena.
Ritz Camera Store Closings Affect Ailing California Economy
On April Fools Day, California decided to raise the state sales tax rate by 1%, sending the tax rate soaring in some locales past the 10% marker. It is this local business environment that is hostile to retailers trying to make a buck coupled with a waning local and national economy that has already sent big box stores like KB Toys and Mervyn’s packing. The latest mall anchor store to close up shop was Circuit City.
Southern California malls in Long Beach, Torrance, and also some parts of Los Angeles are hurting to find stores that drive interested consumers to their venues. Smaller retailers are barely hanging on, hoping for the next big name store to come in, take over vacated space, and turn around the waning mall revenues. The Los Angeles Times reports that — in the meantime — retailers hope that the Ritz Camera liquidation sales will bring in customers, as prices are slashed by 20%, 30% and finally even 90%.
Sources
http://www.ritzpix.com/net/Photo-Finishing/StoreList; http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2332434320090223; http://www.boatersworld.com/; http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=55AEB53B8243382B112E0C4CCE6C6959&ref;=1&src;=rss; http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Boaters-World-Going-out-of-bw-14702778.html; http://mms.businesswire.com/bwapps/mediaserver/ViewMedia?mgid=178358&vid;=1&download;=1; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1614694/april_fools_day_history_now_includes.html; http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/shopping_blog/2009/04/ritz-camera-closing-stores.html
