Ritz Store Liquidation DEAL thread...

I stopped into my local Wolf and asked about a lens that they were, of course, out of stock on. The clerk offered to order it and I asked if it is the same price as their website. His reply cracked me up, "Unfortunately the prices on our website are slightly lower than those of the brick and mortar locations since we offer advice and service in the stores." I replied, but you are closing down in a few weeks, what kind of advice and service can you offer me then?" He didn't respond.

Just thought I'd stop by mine local store today. I didn't go in with high hopes. 30% was the biggest discount, but lots of stuff was only 10-20%.

Canon 70-200 f4 IS for $1124!!!

The rest of the "deals" continued throughout the store.

Guess I'll go back in a few weeks.

cowboylife wrote in post #7724172
Just thought I'd stop by mine local store today. I didn't go in with high hopes. 30% was the biggest discount, but lots of stuff was only 10-20%.

Canon 70-200 f4 IS for $1124!!!

The rest of the "deals" continued throughout the store.

Guess I'll go back in a few weeks.

I am hankerin' for one of those.

My Wolf in Denver/Aurora, Colorado had a SB900 for a whooping deal of $450..that was with the 10% discount...

Around here the stores that are GOOB haven't had any new stock shipments in months so all they have is crap anyway.

Anything worth selling will be transferred out to the warehouse and shipped to stores not closing.

Since they are not closing all stores (only 300) which will still leave them with 400 stores according to what I have heard the deals probably will not be tremendous as they can shift product to other stores so as not to take too much of a bath on it.

Anyway, for the deals you will probably have to go to one of the closing stores. Below is a link for a PDF I found with a list.

http://mms.businesswir​e.com …d=178358&vid=1&​download=1

Good luck everyone.

egordon99 wrote in post #7683850
...

I wouldn't be suprised if they RAISE the price for the GOOB sales

This would mirror there normal way of doing things.... might be part of why they ate going OOB.

The discounts I saw have cameras & lenses only slightly higher than online now ..
I did pick up some eneloops for ~7.20/4 pk.

Rick Anderson,
I had an experience with Wolf camera this afternoon that is typical of Ritz(Wolf) camera. I call a local store in the Bay Area(in the South Bay) and ask what they are selling the canon 50d body only for and was told it was now $879.99 plus tax and in my phone conversation with the sales associate I asked him 3 times during my conversation are you sure that this is your sales price and he said yes each time. So, I quickly get to the store and sure enough they have a sign in their glass cabinet advertising the 50d body only for $879.99 plus tax, so I said I will take it and they scanned the box and said oh, I am sorry this is scanning at $1299-20%=$1040+tax(9.25%)=$​1136 total. So the employee calls the manager or liquidator or who knows who and said we made a mistake on the price on our sign in the glass cabinet and then continued to tell me that it was a mistake made by the liquidator and I said dont't you employees check the prices before you advertise them in written signs and basically got no response from the clerk at this time and was told again that they could not honor the $879.99 price that was clearly shown on their sales sign. If my memory serves me right in California, if a product is advertised in a store with a written sales price that the store must honor the price. I stated this to the staff at this Wolf camera store(a store being shut down and liquidated by the way) and they quickly said to each other that we better check all the sales signs, and needless to say that they did not honor their written advertised price. Does anyone know if by California law that they are obligated to sell this item at their written advertised price? I wish I could say this is the exception with Ritz/Wolf camera, but it is just another typical screwup and demonstration of incompetency with these stores. I am surprised and shocked how Ritz has stayed in business this long. They are not competitive with other camera stores at all, they are typically 20-40% higher on all items they sell and they hire a bunch of employees that could care less about helping the customer and know little to nothing about photography. Just wanted to share my experience with people here and avoid Ritz camera at all costs. glenphoto

egordon99 wrote in post #7691757
Well the smaller Ritz in the smaller KOP mall is closing, and they have everything a whopping 10% off! So that $329 430EXII (I goofed above...) will now only cost $299! What a deal!

Why they don't just "ship" everything to the other store (which is like a 5-10 minute walk), I don't know.

Liquidators purchased specific individual stores and their inventory. Two liquidator-owned stores could do this, but a store that's staying open vs a liquidating store will not.

glenphoto wrote in post #7754344
Rick Anderson,
I had an experience with Wolf camera this afternoon that is typical of Ritz(Wolf) camera. I call a local store in the Bay Area(in the South Bay) and ask what they are selling the canon 50d body only for and was told it was now $879.99 plus tax and in my phone conversation with the sales associate I asked him 3 times during my conversation are you sure that this is your sales price and he said yes each time. So, I quickly get to the store and sure enough they have a sign in their glass cabinet advertising the 50d body only for $879.99 plus tax, so I said I will take it and they scanned the box and said oh, I am sorry this is scanning at $1299-20%=$1040+tax(9.25%)=$​1136 total. So the employee calls the manager or liquidator or who knows who and said we made a mistake on the price on our sign in the glass cabinet and then continued to tell me that it was a mistake made by the liquidator and I said dont't you employees check the prices before you advertise them in written signs and basically got no response from the clerk at this time and was told again that they could not honor the $879.99 price that was clearly shown on their sales sign. If my memory serves me right in California, if a product is advertised in a store with a written sales price that the store must honor the price. I stated this to the staff at this Wolf camera store(a store being shut down and liquidated by the way) and they quickly said to each other that we better check all the sales signs, and needless to say that they did not honor their written advertised price. Does anyone know if by California law that they are obligated to sell this item at their written advertised price? I wish I could say this is the exception with Ritz/Wolf camera, but it is just another typical screwup and demonstration of incompetency with these stores. I am surprised and shocked how Ritz has stayed in business this long. They are not competitive with other camera stores at all, they are typically 20-40% higher on all items they sell and they hire a bunch of employees that could care less about helping the customer and know little to nothing about photography. Just wanted to share my experience with people here and avoid Ritz camera at all costs. glenphoto

For the record, chances are they cared a lot about "helping the customer" before they were told they were out of a job. You're not "The customer" now to them, you're "The vulture" out to profit from them losing a job. That's the perception. I've been through this - you guys will save yourselves a lot of exhaustion by going into these stores with 0 expectations.

egordon99 wrote in post #7679141
I was HOPING they were (1)Closing and (2)Had a great deal on a 430EXII since I'm looking for a backup flash...

I did buy a 58mm UV filter to replace the one that got messed up when I dropped my 85mm this weekend

I prefer "The Camera Shop" in Bryn Mawr but I didn't have time to drive down there and wanted a filter TODAY so I can start using my 85 again....

Yeah the one in Bryn Mawr was not part of the Ritz buy out of Camera Shop and thus is so much better.

glenphoto wrote in post #7754344
If my memory serves me right in California, if a product is advertised in a store with a written sales price that the store must honor the price. I stated this to the staff at this Wolf camera store(a store being shut down and liquidated by the way) and they quickly said to each other that we better check all the sales signs, and needless to say that they did not honor their written advertised price. Does anyone know if by California law that they are obligated to sell this item at their written advertised price?

yupp. it is in fact a law, as stated by the california department of consumer affairs. i believe it goes under 'bait and switch.'

which wolf camera store was it anyway? haha.

I would have absolutely forced the issue w/ them. I would have taken a picture of the sign (even if w/ a CP camera). Your position should have been that the computer system obviously hadn't been updated to reflect the latest pricing, and they were obviously the ones making the mistake. Since they're out of a job anyway, I'm surprised that they even cared. I would have then called the police and informed them of the situation.

Also, if the liquidator has already purchased the inventory, it's up to them to set the pricing. How is it a 'mistake'? I really would have pushed it further. I would have wanted to speak w/ the top-level manager. If he would continue to stone-wall you, at that point in time I would have informed them that I've already contacted the police, and that they should be arriving shortly.

I've worked in retail before, and what usually happens in cases like this, even if it's a case of mis-pricing an item, is that you sell them one item at the stated price, and promptly remove the signage. I believe there's a similar law here in NJ regarding B&S pricing. Car dealers were notorious for it. They got around it by listing one specific car (listed the VIN for the car) at the low-ball price, and of course, that one would have been sold by the time you get there. However, they have several others at only 'slightly higher' prices.

Just to let you know it was the Wolf camera store in Cupertino, located close to DeAnza college. I also understand pushing the issue that because they "accidentally" put the wrong price on the sign that I could have opted to call the police, but who knows what the employees would give you. They could go in the back room and find a demo or some other opened box item and given it to me. I guess the morons that work at the store haven't quite yet figured out basic arithmetic and how to calculate percentages. The only thing they know is what the "computer" says. Anyway, if I buy from B&H or Buydig the camera is only about $80 more from a reputable store- I don't consider Ritz/Wolf camera reputable simply because when you ask the employees something that they usually have no clue on what your asking for. I don't like to see companies going out of business, but in this case Ritz gets what it deserves-nothing! You know, I could see paying a few extra bucks for a camera, but when you have people working their that have very little to no knowledge of what they are selling plus prices that are jacked up 20-40% who in their right mind would support such a store? Lastly, beware if you do buy a camera from one of the stores that are being liquidated because I asked the apparent store manager can you bring the camera back(within 7-14 days) to another Ritz store that is not being liquidated if there is something wrong with the camera or any other item for that matter and their response was no you have to send it back to Canon(in this case I was looking at the 50d) you could not simply return it to another Ritz camera store for an exchange or refund. The bottom line is that price is important to me, but customer service and a good store reputation are also important factors that I consider when making a purchase, so I say to Ritz good riddance. glenphoto