Ritz Camera Centers Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection reports Reuters. Reuters says the company has been hurt both by digital photography and by the recession. Ritz Camera runs the Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Kits Cameras, Inkley's, The Camera Shops, Boater's World Marine Centers.
In an affidavit, Chief Restructuring Officer Marc Weinsweig said the company's lenders ordered the company in January to boost reserves, thereby reducing available credit.
He said this came after the recession caused Ritz's 2008 holiday sales to be "materially lower" than a year earlier. Ritz was also hurt by losses at Boater's World, which suffered falling sales in 2008 as gas prices soared.
"The loss of revenues and profit margins from the diminution in the photo-finishing business proved too much of a burden, coupled with the losses experienced by the Boater's World business in 2008," he wrote.
