Ritz Camera & Image, LLC, and Ritz Interactive, LLC filed Chapter 11 Petitions in Delaware today.  The Ritz Camera case is Case No. 12-11868 (click here for Chapter 11 petition).  The debtors have filed a Motion for Joint Administration under the Ritz Camera case number.

Ritz operates several retail stores in Georgia under the Wolf Camera name.  In the days to come, we will likely find out which locations Ritz wants to close. Ritz also owns Boaters World, which has an online store after closing over 100 retail stores.  The entities that owned Ritz and Wolf previously filed Chapter 11 petitions in 2009 but that ended in liquidation. The assets were purchased by RCI Acquisition, LLC, which included David Ritz.

Patrick Reilley and of Sanjay Bhatnagar of Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard represent the debtor companies.

First day motions filed so far include:

  1. Motion for an Order (A) Authorizing Debtors to Continue Use of Their Centralized Cash Management System, Existing Bank Accounts and Business Forms, and (B) Waiving, on an Interim Basis, the Deposit and Investment Requirements of Section 345 of the Bankruptcy Code 
  2.  Motion for an Order (I) Authorizing Payment of Prepetition Wages, Compensation, Employee Benefits, Expense Reimbursement and Related Items, and the Continuation of Certain Employment Policies in the Ordinary Course, and (II) Authorizing and Directing Applicable Banks to Honor and Pay All Checks and Payment Requests With Respect Thereto.
  3. Motion for an Order Authorizing the Debtors to Continue to Honor Customer Programs and Practices.
  4. Motion to Approve DIP Financing of up to $20 million from Crystal Financial.
  5. Declaration of Marc Weinsweig   in Support of First Day Motions.

The various d/b/a’s for Ritz, including in the Chapter 11 case, are:

dba Against the Elements
dba Big Print Central
dba Boater’s World
dba Boater’s World Discount
dba Boater’s World Marine
dba Boatersworld.Com
dba Boating Made Better!
dba Camera World
dba Cameraworld.Com
dba Captain’s Club
dba Capture Your World
dba Dean’s
dba Discover The Advantage!
dba Frequent Foto
dba Inkley’s
dba Kits Cameras (And Design)
dba OTE On The Edge
dba Outer Banks Outfitters (And
dba Outerbanksoutfitters.com
dba Photronic
dba Photronic Depot
dba Photronic Imageination
dba Photronic Image1nation
dba Powerboat Design
dba Print@Wolf
dba Printawolf.Com
dba Proex
dba Quantaray
dba Ritz Big Print
dba Ritz Blitz
dba Ritz Camera
dba Ritz Interactive
dba Ritzcamera.Com
dba Ritzcamera.Com & Electronics
dba Ritzelectronics.Com
dba Ritzpix
dba Sea Bowld
dba The Boat House At Boater’s
dba The Camera Shop Inc (Design)
dba Wolf Camera & Video
dba Wolf Camera (Design)
dba Wolf Camera (Stylized)
dba Wolf Camera Portrait Studio
dba Wolf University
dba Wolfcamera.com
dba Wolfexpress