Georgia Bankruptcy Blog

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting that Ritz Camera, which operates as Wolf Camera in many locations (incl. Georgia), is giving up its reorganization efforts and will try to sell all remaining locations.  Click here for the article by Barton Eckert.

From the article:

In a court filing, Ritz Camera reported it is talking with two potential bidders, although neither has been willing to sign a contract. The company is hopeful at least some of the remaining 400 photo stores will be sold to a going-concern buyer. The other 400 stores already have been closed in going-out-of-business sales...

Ritz Camera also owned Boater’s World, a boating-and-fishing supply retailer. The bankruptcy court judge gave Ritz Camera permission on March 19 to hire Gordon Brothers to shut down the company's 130-store Boater’s World chain... Its retail brands today include Wolf Camera, Kits Cameras, Inkley’s and The Camera Shop.

Coincidentally, I stopped in the local Wolf Camera yesterday to take a look at two Canon lenses, and they did not have either in stock.  They did go through the effort to "check the system" to see when they might have them available, but I thought it was unusual they asked for no contact information to let me know what it arrived.  I probably do not need to check back in 1-3 weeks as suggested.  Unfortunately, Showcase, Inc., the other store in the area, also was out of stock for both so Amazon.com was the answer.

by shoppin online ur part of the reason why retailers are going out of business and people are losing their jobs, hope ya feel good about yourself

I have just come from the Wolf store here in Chattanooga, TN and they also said no Canon products were available and offered no future availability. Then they pushed heavy the Nikon brand.
I am glad I found this post.

Thanks

Joe, I feel great. If I know what I want, why should I pay extra for the same made in china battery you are selling for 40 dollars more than it is listed for on ebay? It's the simple thing that it is an antiquated business model for the times.
I hate you lost your job, but that's the great thing about evolution. You adapt. Price gouging never really wins out as a model.

Wow, the information on this website is only half true. Ritz/Wolf did go through a bankruptcy in June 2009 but did not sell to a liquidation company. It was just a reorganization.
As for the out of stock Canon, Ritz/Wolf is expected to receive Canon again in Spring/Summer 2010.

[Editor's Note: Ritz did liquidate its stores and assets in the Bankruptcy case. They did not reorganize. The retail stores were purchased in the Chapter 11 case, and are now owned and operated by different owners, who also purchased the rights to the Wolf/Ritz names. As stated in the post, a liquidation company was in fact retained to liquidate the boating stores.]