Ritz Camera out in a flash

photo courtesy wikipedia.com

As of February 22, 2009, Ritz Camera filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Ritz Camera is the largest photography retail chain store, which includes Wolf Camera and a variety of other retail outlets across the United States. Ritz claims that the rising use of digital photography is the cause for lack of sales, but a couple articles add a few more important points.

According to an article by JR Raphael of The Inquisitr (misspelled intentionally), the massive amount of debt owed to creditors by Ritz Camera was their downfall. Most of the money, which totals to $65 million dollars, is to camera production companies such as Nikon, Canon and Fuji Film (Raphael, 2009).

Another unlikely reason Ritz was facing financial turmoil was the rising cost of gasoline. Ritz Camera also owned boaters world, a recreational marine business that saw major losses(Chase, 2009). Coupled with the decline in photo finishing process sales, Ritz Camera could not make a profit to sustain their business.

photo courtesy wikipedia.com

In my own viewpoint, I agree mostly with the digital photography excuse. Many people are becoming quite adept at photoshop and other image manipulators, as well as the thriving online communities where most pictures are now stored and viewed. It is becoming a rarity to actually have print copies of pictures outside the fine arts scene. That, coupled with online print services such as Flickr.com's ability to order prints directly from your uploaded images makes a retail offering for this service more and more obsolete.


Articles Cited
Chase, r. (2009) Ritz Camera seeks Bankruptcy Protection. Retrieved March 4, 2009 from http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D96HEULG0.htm

Raphael, JR. (2009) What Drove Ritz Camera to Bankruptcy? Retrieved March 4, 2009 from http://www.inquisitr.com/18632/ritz-camera-bankruptcy/