Bethesda Row Ritz Camera Set To Close
Camera shop chain is liquidating, Bloomberg News reports.
The Ritz Camera store on Bethesda Row is set to close.
Katie Griffith
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The Bethesda Row Ritz Camera & Image shop is closing, and Bloomberg News reports the troubled specialty camera chain is liquidating after unsuccessfully searching for a buyer willing to keep its remaining 137 stores open.
The 94-year-old, Beltsville-based chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, three years after surviving its first bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported.
On Sept. 6, Ritz was sold at auction to a partnership of two firms that will liquidate the stores through going-out-of-business sales, Bloomberg reports.
According to Bloomberg, the chain has struggled as consumers increasingly rely on digital photography rather than processing film at a camera store.
The Ritz store remains open for now, and an employee couldn’t confirm Thursday when it would close.
Are you sad to see the Ritz Camera Store go? Did you frequent the shop? What would you like to see in its place? Tell us in the comments.
MB
8:10 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I'm sad to learn the downtown Bethesda store is closing. I bought my camera there and the employees took the time to answer and support all my camera and photography questions all the time. I bought a new lens there last week. I hope someone is able open a new store and hire those employees at that location.
Gus Fring
5:59 pm on Thursday, October 4, 2012
Not gonna happen. Look at the square footage in that space and how poorly it is used. It's too big for a camera store. Also the manager has an annoying habit of addressing older women as "young lady". It's like drawing attention to the fact that they're old.