Ritz Camera Files Chapter 11

Ritz Camera Centers Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday.  The largest camera-store retail chain in the United States cited a worsening recession, as well as a consumer trend towards digital photography, as the reasons for filing Chapter 11 papers.

The company, based in Beltsville, Maryland, has about 800 locations in more than 40 states.  Their brands include the Ritz Camera chain, Wolf Camera, Kits Cameras, Inkley’s and the Camera Shops.  A drop in photo printing business, as well as lagging sales at its Boater’s World Marine Centers, has hurt the company.

The papers indicated that high oil prices in the recent past have severely dampened business at Boater’s World.  Boater’s World, which the company launched in 1987 to diversify their business, proved to be “proved too much of a burden, coupled with the losses experienced” in the camera business, said Marc Weinsweig, the company’s restructuring offices.

The case is Ritz Camera Centers Inc., 09-10617, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

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