This is actually kind of unfortunate. I've only had good dealings with Ritz and their B&N stores were handy for picking up the random photographic doodad on short notice.

Well, it's about time. I used to be very loyal to Wolf Camera, which was bought by Ritz. It was all downhill after that. Wvery experience I've had with them since they became Ritz over the last four years or so has left me with an impression ranging between "used car salesman" to "fraud".

If you're going to sell things for more than anyone else (all the while claiming to match prices, then manufacturing demonstrably false reasons of why you can't), refuse to honor or perform extended warranty work, sell used/returned/defective items as if they were new, and lie about what a product does or what the customer needs in order to make a sale, you're not going to last.

Go away already :)

It's rather unfortunate now the only store I can go to for camera equipment in my town is Best Buy which is a total rip off. They may have had bad customer service, but at least Ritz Camera's white label products were pretty competitive.

@Ezra Ekman: Which is exactly why I stopped using them after the acquisition. They even went so far as to fire the manager at my local wolf store because he went out of his way to honor the "old codes" of customer service.

Just out of curiosity, what happened to the camera in the picture?

Last night my wife watched "The L Word" and there was a scene of a woman printing a photo. I looked at my wife and said "no one develops pictures that way anymore." What once was a large scale hobby is now relegated to only a small number of hardcore enthusiasts. That they are in this position is really no surprise as the business model no longer works in a digital world. They now can line up with the carriage makers and buggy whip manufactures as formerly succesful industries.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: go-kart accident

This is where I work...should I be concerned, consumerist?

Another one bites the dust. ... Next. ..

I've had nothing but horrible service every time I walked in our local Ritz/Wolf. The last time I even spoke up to the sales person. She couldn't care less.

My experience was similar to that of several friends too.

So long Wolf I won't miss you.

I find this sad, as I'm actually a former employee of Ritz Camera... and the way that a lot of people have the impression things happen there was not the way my former store operated AT ALL. Re: the price match thing, of course we would match prices, but we wouldn't do it with Costco or Sam's Club, it had to be an advertised price (meaning we had to see it on a circular or in a newspaper) and the other store had to have the item in stock. Which is not altogether unfair, or much different than other stores do it. The store I worked at had a HUGE HUGE emphasis on customer service, of course we were supposed to sell, but the way my boss believed to do that was to teach the customer what they needed to know and help them pick the equipment that was right for them. In fact, I can think of several occasions where I pointed someone toward a cheaper camera or one that carried no S.I. (sales incentive: you make a few bucks off of certain cameras and accessories) because it was better for them and I knew it would make them happier. Plus we were the only place in town that developed people's dirty pictures. ;)

That being said, I can't say I'm surprised. The rise of digital definitely hurt them, and the fact is that they operated way way too many stores (I know at one point there were something like fifty of them in the Seattle/Tacoma area, which is just dumb).

funny i don't have one GOOD story about this company. the only thing i CAN say was that it is convenient to have a store where you can walk in and buy things like tripods, batteries and things. if they were gone, i'd have to buy everything off the net. and usually when i need it, i need it NOW. but as far as their customer service, they stink.

As bad as service may have been at the far flung locations folks may have been to, their HQ location was even worse.

I have a camera that I won from them, so paying for the expended warrenty was easy enugh to justify. Paid off when the focus stopped working. But, when I took it in, the lady didn't understand that I also wanted a quick cleaning - something that could be performed in house in 2 minutes, not something that "will take a couple of weeks because we would have to send it away again."

Proper or not, I blame the failure of Ritz on the Governor O'Malley and P.G. County Chief Executive Johnson, along with the legislative delegation from District 21 in Maryland. It's a miserable area to have a business as it seems the state and county are intent on driving business out rather than bringing it in.

The Ritz Camera store here in Fort Wayne closed in 2005... it never even upgraded to full-fledged digital photofinishing labs. How's that for upkeep? (The old Ritz space in Glenbrook Square is now a Lady Foot Locker.)

Surprisingly, the local camera shop, Sunny Schick, is still around... a case of David beats Goliath, perhaps?

as a former Ritz employee of 4 years, this is not a surprise to me. towards the end of my tenure there, corporate decided to get rid of a lot of member benefits, but they didn't lower prices. the stores i worked at always had top quality lab work, we always made sure that we did a good job with the equipment we were given. but when they introduced the photo books & photo gifts, we were appalled. the machines produced HORRIBLE quality work that looked no better than a home printer, so why would anyone pay the same price for what Ritz does, when they can just get Shutterfly to do it & it looks amazing? i agree that having your photos printed has died out & most people are starting to prefer photosharing sites, Ritz tried to jump on this, but they didn't develop their website well. i wouldn't doubt that a good amount of this has to do with the fact that the Ritz family all works in corporate even though they have no idea how a business should actually be run. it's sad to me because i still have a lot of friends that work there. but that's what the company gets for not listening to their customer issues & not listening to what their employees have to say. at least my area still has a few local photo/camera stores in business. otherwise there's always B&H!

Remember everyone, this is a chapter 11, which means they will remain in business (for the meantime anyways), not a 7, which means close shop and sell everything to pay creditors.

The only time I have been in a Ritz I bought my last camera, and I was happy with the service. I ended up there after online price shopping. I always had the perception that they were more expensive then dept stores, and I was wrong. I hope they can survive.

@concordia: Same here. This leaves Best Buy and a handful of smaller chains that didn't have near the selection Ritz did, nor the free classes they give when you buy stuff with them.

Amen. They deserve it. Real bad customer service.

I hope they go under.

So what happens to my extended service plan? Is it a worthless piece of paper since Ritz is self insured?

I went in there the other day to try to get some passport pictures. They were extremely unpleasant about it. I asked what they charged, and this terse and bored guy said "Yeah that'll be $32 for six." I said "Who needs six passport pictures?' He looked at me like I was an insect and shrugged. "I dunno." I walked out, down the street, and got two perfectly good pictures for $9.99 and now I have my new passport. Screw 'em.

how digital killed the developing film

so are they going to have expensive canon slr for dirt cheap~!??!

Jeeze, and I thought the customer service I had there was just an isolated incident... Think again!

The first time I dealt with Ritz was to buy a new SLR for my wife. After they took my money and promised great service they red stamped a "No Returns, As Is" on my receipt without telling me.

Second time was to get some pics developed that a professional had taken. We had a copyright release signed, but they wouldn't give us the prints without keeping the release. Not a copy, but the actual release. We declined and the manager started yelling at us about how he could get fined $10,000 for developing them without a release.

We haven't been back. I may go by and do the chapter 11 dance around the store tonight though.

Worst SLR lenses in the world? Quantaray, Ritz Camera's store brand. And it all goes downhill from there.

I do buy the occasional accessory from Ritz though, so I'd hate to see them go out of business completely.

Hmm. A photographer friend of mine would occasionally go to Ritz because he could usually con them into cross-processing film for him, which would give some interesting effects. The people who ran the machines usually didn't notice that the film they had wasn't what it was supposed to be....

I think by selling boats, and pottery (mufungo.com) they lost track of running the photo business. The customer service (!) from India wasn't a good idea either with the poor phone connections. List price on their web site was an insult with B&H and Adorama around.

Too bad. We bought a camera from Wolf recently and they were competitive. Five years ago, not so much.

@rickinsthelens: That's just not true. There are still thousands of amateur and professional photographers who still won't move to digital because they don't think pictures look "right."

Heck, I know people who still primarily take 35mm black and white shots.

Sure, the majority of us are using digital (and spending the money we would have spent on chemicals or processing fees on getting more and more storage for our computers), but there will always be people using, and developing, film. It'll eventually become rich weirdo territory, but it'll still be there.

@madanthony: Most real/local or indie stores will cross process if you just ask. Big chains don't like to do it because their machines have been idiot proofed and x-processing your film throws the chemicals out of whack from what I understand. No big deal for experienced developers - an absolute nightmare for your average Wal-Mart employee.

@Lin-Z: Yes, you should.

Well, I work at a Ritz Camera. First, the posts that say "glad you are going out of business" gee thanks. You know, people work here! These are our jobs!

Second, so far, its chapter 11. Business as usual. No changes, no discounts (you vultures!) Just extra cash flow and protection from debts to reorganize, cut the fat, and get things back in order.

Third, as for customer service, it really depends on the people and the location. Overall though, the job is average to ok on the pay. If you go into the store and are respectful of the associates that work there, you will most likely get great service. However, if you go in and end up being a jerk or treat the employees like crap, you can bet that that fairly under paid employee will not care to help you one damn bit.

I buy a LOT of camera gear, and try to avoid Ritz as much as I can - but sometimes it was the only place in town where you could get more than a UV filter. (Best Buy? Please. I will NEVER buy a camera at Best Buy again - and suggest the same to everyone else.)

Most of the time my experiences at Ritz have been less than stellar - really starting when they started having this strange obsession with selling "BIG PRINTS!" as their marquee product. Do people really print that many poster size prints? I thought it was a really bizarre tactic.

Anyways, prices were always lousy at Ritz - they made you think you were getting $300 worth of "extras" to make up for the $300 you could have saved going to B&H, but it was usually some lousy software or print coupons.
I bought my Canon 10D there - but have been going B&H and local ever since.

However, there is one exception.

The Ritz store on Forest Hill in Bon Air, VA has an absolutely stellar manager. She's great with customer service, a great help, and very friendly - not pushy. I told her I wish they stocked more stuff - since I'd love to buy my stuff from her. Unfortunately, since the store isn't in a ritzy (ha ha) area, she only gets castoffs and low-end junk.

The problem, as it seems, is with management at Ritz. They clearly do not get it.

The camera market is ten times as competitive as it was 10 or so years ago, with every soccer mom in the world buying a Nikon or Canon DSLR. You cannot expect to shill crap Quantaray lenses (telling me they're "made by Sigma!" Hokay.) and cameras at MSRP and expect to survive.

Sorry Ritz. Sucks to see you go, but you had it coming.

I'm glad the big giant chains are falling left and right. Ritz had it coming, with all the scams that they were running to prey on consumers, while employing some of the dumbest people out there to run their stores. They have a print and development service, yet their prices cannot even begin to compete with Costco or Rite-Aid.

I hope this brings back mom and pop stores...stores owned by people who actually give a crap about what they're selling.

@Geoffrey Sperl:Sure, it'll still be around but it was the average consumer keeping them going. Without them, they are doomed.

I love Ritz but B&H and Adorama were just that much better

No Loss. There is a Ritz Super Store about a mile from my house. In the beginning days of digital photography they were very helpful and knowlegable, and I rewarded that with buying a camera there even though I found it cheaper at another store.

Recently I went to get a passport photo taken, and it took the photograpger 45 minutes to get a shot that was somewhat useable (even though it was still blury), and another 20 minutes for him to print out the photo. I did the same thing at home for another family member in under 10 minutes!

I went there again to get a high capacity battery for a camcorder. I came armed with the manufacturer's part number and my camera, and when the clerk could not find it, he tried pushing the low capacity battery on me saying that they don't make a high capacity battery. Canon, NewEgg & B&H all disagree with this statement.

@yagisencho: Eh, they're a mixed bag. The throw-in 70-300 I got when I bought my XTi is surprisingly sharp. The autofocus is a little weak, but overall, I'm pleased with it.

I was in the local Ritz store last week and the clerk was not only pleasant but very product knowlegable.

@Joshua Davis: When did it become trendy to hate on Best Buy? Seriously, out of the dozens of Best Buy stores in my area, I've only found one to be poorly run, and I've only had one bad experience in there. What B&M store is run better than Best Buy? Certainly not Frys or Circuit City.

I understand that Amazon and Newegg have better selection and cheaper prices, but I'm not buying a 52 in LCD from them, and I like to be able to walk into a store and buy what I want right then and there. How is BBY a total ripoff?

@tcp100: I think part of the problem is people are perhaps finally learning that it's not the equipment but the photographer but that would be optimistic.

But really I mean, how much gear does one person need? I know pros who haven't bought any new equipment in decades as well as some pros who bought a Digital SLR four years ago and don't need the newest and greatest. With the economy as it is, camera gear isn't as much of a penile replacement as it once was for some.

Which is fine by me. I just wish that there was a reliable camera repair place around so I can keep my small collection of gear under control.

@ZenMasterKel: Their prices are outrageous, and they often carry electronics stock that is several models/generations behind what is available online. Immediate gratification is nice, but not even close to enough to justify Best Buy's pricing. Don't believe me? Go price out something there, like RAM modules, and compare it to prices online.

@madanthony: When I worked there, we'd occasionally cross process for people... though we'd wait to run it through until the end of the day. I doubt that "they didn't notice" because the machine makes fairly hideous beeping noises if you try to cross process. Chances are your friend actually took the time to get to know the employees at that store, and they went through the extra effort for him.

I had a manager at Ritz that had previously been a manager at Walmart, and she said the difference was astounding. Walmart cleans out their chemicals once a month... Ritz guidelines are to clean once a week.

I look there and buy at adorama.com

@Azagthoth: That'll show those minimum wage college students. My hero!

@yagisencho: Some of the Quantaray-branded lenses are actually Sigmas (And Tamrons I think). So there are some good ones in there, but for the price you could get the name brand and support.

@tcp100: Uh... Some of them really ARE made by Sigma. Quantaray is just a merchant. However the price is still unjustified.

Maybe this recession will be restart of the small ma and pa shops. Ex employees going to work for themselves to actually give exceptional customer service. The big companies are too big to downsize fast enough. Come on everyone, let's take back what we used to have in the country before the corporate boxes took over our cities!

@ZenMasterKel: I can't stand the upselling BestBuy does with their warranties. When I say, "no", I prefer the subject dropped but they keep hammering and trying to persuade me to buy their warranties. Plus their staff is a mixed bag of expertise. When I bought my last camera there the clerk helping me had no idea about the use of a skylight lens filter and claimed they were out. Found it myself the next day in their store but wish now I'd given the money to an online retailer.