marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Notice is says near the bottom that Ritzpix.com is NOT going out of business. That means they are reorganizing as a corporation. They're getting rid of the debt caused by their brick and mortar stores that not enough customers visited, they are able to break leases on locations they were renting without being sued, and they're getting other financial court protections while folding their chain of stores - but they are apparently going to remain an Internet entity.

The results of the sale flyer you got is likely being supervised by the bankruptcy court and money from that sale and maybe others will go to creditors - up to a point - then after the stores are empty and the excess inventory is sold and creditors are satisfied with their write-offs - Ritz will be a fit and trim warehouse and Internet presence only with only a small amount of debt that they can handle properly.

That's what Circuit City did. All stores are gone nationwide but you still find them online. If things don't improve you may see Best Buy do this too. A lot of times, online stores stock very little and in some cases nothing, sell an item to you, order it from the manufacturer's warehouse to reship to you, or have it drop shipped from the manufacturer's warehouse directly without the online store ever touching the item at all.

If an online company is big enough, a manufacturer will set up a special department strictly for shipping with the online store's labels on items and that makes you think your shipment came from the store but it didn't. Then the online store has no investment in stocking your item, no investment in shipping the item, no investment in employees to do the picking and shipping, etc. If you send it back, the RA# and return address are actually the manufacturer's and not the online store's. Much better profit with virtually no overhead except running and marketing the web site itself.

The extreme of this is an online store web site that has manufacturer "RSS feeds" to each item shown on the store's site which are linked to the BUY button, the "how many in stock" listing, etc. When you push "BUY" and do your checkout the order is directly linked to the manufacturer's warehouse information and fulfillment people - not the warehouse of the online store.

I believe Dell pioneered this movement with the cooperation of UPS. You call Dell to place and order and you are actually talking to a UPS employee who ships your pre-built PC and accessories out of their UPS warehouse which is near the Dell factory. If you have a custom order, they transfer the completed order to Dell where is built within two hours and UPS picks it up there and ships it to you. At least that's the way it was. That may be even more streamlined now.

Sallywho Loc: Wendell, NC

The two stores near me are closing according the employee that I talked with Saturday after receiving the email they have been told 6 weeks is the deadline. Pictures to be printed can be ordered on line at Ritzpic.com. I am saddened since I did use them to print my photos and have always been please with the quality of the prints and the help from the employees when I had a question. Hopefully these employees will be able to find employment.

Fla Walt Loc: Delray Beach, Florida

There is a privately owned camers shop here in Delray beach. Delray Camers. It is pretty much a Nikon store. I think there is also a Cannon store nearby. I bought my D5100 for the same price as on line.

Jersey guy Loc: New Joisey

Yeah, it's like all those radio ads for this, that, and the other thing, that urge you to "act now" because the space (or the deal) is going fast. If it was going fast, why waste their money on advertising, they're going to be sold out anyway!!!! Or, maybe not! Hmmmm!

Rufus Loc: Puget Sound area, WA

I bought an F-4 from Ritz in LA a long time ago. It was a good store and they treated me right. So long, Ritz.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

From http://www.ritzcamera.com/

RitzCamera.com will reopen under new management on November 1, 2012.

Boy, I'm really excited about that bit of news.....

Photogdog Loc: New Kensington, PA

Part of this may be internet effect. In the old days, relatively few customers knew what they were looking
for when they walked into a camera store. They depended on the sales reps to guide them through the various possibilities. Unless you were a pro or an extremely well-read amatuer, you probably didn't know what you were looking for in a camera or gear.

Today, there are numerous sites where one can look up features and run comparisons against other cameras, lenses, etc.

This is where places like Best Buy make their mark. They cater to the low-midrange user. I guess they figure knowledgeable sales people aren't really necessary.

Caveat Emptor.

PhotoGator Loc: Florida

It is all false advertisement. Look and compare prices and realize there are no savings at all.

http://www.ritzcamera.com/

jtipps Loc: Dallas

I spent about and hour in one of the stores here in Dallas Tuesday looking around. All price tags have been taken off and they have to scan everything to tell you the price. Pretty obvious what they are doing. Some items that were 30% off were above retail. Crazy people in there buying stuff like it was give away. I did buy a couple of Nikon filters at 50% off for around $60 that the cheapest I could find on line was around $75 plus shipping. Not 50% off but not bad. This store is actually closing.

krgatlgm Loc: Las Vegas, Nv

The Pasadena, Ca store closed almost 2 months ago. They had some nice people working there but not very knowledgeable. All of them are now on unemployment. Ran into one of the girls that worked there and she told me she hasn't found a job yet and is out every day looking.