Largest Camera Retailer goes Chapter 11

Ritz Camera, with 800 stores, join the ranks of Circuit City by filing Chapter 11. Its biggest creditors Nikon and Cannon will have to get in line with Fujfilm and others to recoup the millions due them. So, if your sitting on a Ritz Camera gift card like I am, its time to hit the store before it has no value at all. For more details, see dpreview here or Businessweek here. Ritz apparently has lost a bundle in their investments in high tech printing as many photographers have moved from film to digital. Duh! I would have thought their sales in cameras would have told them that. So the demise of both Wolf Camera and Ritz Camera leave photographers with a shorter local shopping store list.