Correction
Canon not selling to Ritz isn't part of the bankruptcy proceedings. The issue is Ritz got to write-off a ton of debt to Canon.
Canon & Ritz couldn't work out a new deal before the Christmas season.
Thanks for the clarification Eric
Not until 2010 at the earliest
Canon will not be selling them any new stock for the Christmas season to Ritz Camera. Canon will sell to the retail chain during Q1 2010 at the earliest.
Ritz will be sending existing Canon stock to the “Ultra Store” locations. Apparently they're for the higher end gear.
cr
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41 Comments
Canon is looking at a single brand retail strategy.
The guy didn’t necessarily lie to you, but that doesn’t mean he was accurate in what he said.
Canon has not and will not extend a new dealer contract to Ritz at this time. Canon also has not and will not renew or change terms on a variety of dealer contracts to some of the third party distributors whose previous contracts came up for renewal or expired after July 2009. Allegedly two of these third party companies were looked at by Ritz as suppliers before Canon left them out to dry as well.
Until Canon makes up its mind over the single brand retail strategy they want to manage the long term competition agreements to these possible stores. Besides, anyone that signs a new agreement will get second rate access to inventory as Canon wants to cater to B&H, Calumet, and Best Buy as they are such high volume dealers.
So you can definitely find Canon gear at places, but that number is slowly contracting in the event that Canon goes single brand.
You don’t get the accurate picture from Ritz employees because Ritz hasn’t shared, informed, or educated any of the staff about the situation.
As for Ritz as a business. It all depends on the store. The company is privately held and reflects the ego of David Ritz. The idea is to make money for David at all costs. If you go into a store that doesn’t have knowledge or only pushes the cheap crap put then that store is probably closed.
But you would be amazed at how many people go into those stores on a daily basis and want a filter for $10.00, find $40.00 for a tripod to be too much, and want to buy batteries for a SLR for $15.00.
As for the treatment of employees.. Yep, its a corporation…
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I sure have been selling a lot of Nikon d5000’s! like hot cakes! I will sell enough nikon d5000’s this month to keep Ritz alive! The only thing I miss canon for is the powershots! when I did have canon in my store I sold 10 nikon slr cameras for every canon slr! I guess canon should come up with a better kit lens!
Justin,
The D5000 is a really good-selling camera. Probably one of Nikon’s best. I sold a ton of them when I worked at Ritz as well. I think it has less to do with Canon’s kit lens and more to do with the fact that Nikon has priced their cameras slightly more competitively and also offering the in-camera help guides. Not to mention Ritz and Nikon’s long-time “partnership” where Ritz advertised in-store for Nikon with large signs, upright displays and package deals with Nikon that included multiple lenses, bags and accessories at a seemingly fair price. Canon never got any of e , but then again they probably never negotiated that part of it and just let it go so it’s possibly more their fault than it is Ritz’s.