Ritz seeks approval for sale of Boater's World

[LuckyLady]

Retail Update
Ritz seeks approval for sale of Boater's World

Boating Industry
Friday March 6, 2009


BELTSVILLE, Md. — Ritz Camera Centers has filed a motion in bankruptcy court seeking approval of bidding procedures for the sale of its Boater’s World business, according to a report on NetDockets.com. Ritz filed for bankruptcy Feb. 22.

"Ritz currently operates 130 Boater’s World stores, but has determined that it should exit the Boater’s World business either through a going concern sale or by liquidating those assets," according to NetDockets.
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The motion seeks approval of the following timeline for the bidding process:


Deadline to object to proposed bidding procedures: March 9

Hearing to approve bidding procedures: March 10

Deadline to object to sale: March 12

Deadline for potential buyers to submit bids: March 16

Auction: March 17

Hearing to approve sale: March 19

[JD5652]

Wow!...these guys aren't messing around.....that's one helluva aggressive schedule...anyone want to go in halves on a bid?

[idigitu88]

Wow!...these guys aren't messing around.....that's one helluva aggressive schedule...anyone want to go in halves on a bid?

Sure. You make the bid. I'll put it in.

[LuckyLady]

I feel bad for the sucker that gets it! They are in for a ride

[John from Madison CT]

Somebody may be getting one hell of a deal.

Other than West Marine, I wonder who might be interested.

[idigitu88]

Buffet'll buy t unless he's trying to sell it.

[slip slidin]

Talked to a Boater's World manager today. He said West Marine is in worse financial shape than BW. Doubt that one will happen. He did say that BW was profitable. I would have to think that someone will be getting a pretty good deal also. We have the busiest BW in the country in our area. The manager of the store makes a big difference. New owner's will probably just make them a little leaner and do away with the unprofitable stores. Mary, have you heard anything about BW trying to make a play on Contender?

[Squidnation]

Someone is gonna buy this thing for a song and either liquidate it or close all stores that compete with the buying company and rebrand the BW stores that are in an area without a buying company store. But more then likely you will see a tremendous downsizing of non-profitable or even marginally profitable stores.

The value in this company is not the brick and mortar 130 locations but rather the online business that carries 1/10 of the overhead that brick and mortar stores carry.

Another reason that they are probably gonna down size a ton of these stores is the actual size of these stores. The small square footage isn't going to produce enough sales to sustain profitability. They have small backrooms and tend to usually have all their stock on the shelves and tend to carry low item counts. That is why you find that they are out of stock of many items when you visit a BW store. Furthermore the profit margin that many marine items carry is relatively low. So when you combine small stores, low stock levels and lower profit margins then you have a perfect case study for failure. That is why you see these type of stores dedicate 30% of their floor space to high profit items like t-shirts.

Combine all that with a slumping economy and a lack of disposable income further explains their demise. But the recent ecomonic slide didn't start the sinking of Boaters World. It just broken an ailing back.

But that is just my guess as to what is wrong.

[Squidnation]

Wow - I guess I wasn't that far off. I am glad I posted that last night. Anybody reading this morning's Washington Post may accuse may of Plagerizing From this morning Washington Post

Ritz to Exit Boating Business, Seeks to Sell 400 Camera Shops

Ritz seeks to sell off half of its 800 camera stores nationwide. It has 51 stores in the D.C. area. (By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; Page D03

Ritz Camera, trying to raise cash to cover its mounting debt, received approval in bankruptcy court yesterday to begin the process of liquidating the assets at all 130 shops operated by its Boater's World Marine Centers.

Moreover, attorneys for the Beltsville-based company, the nation's largest photography retailer, said they will file a motion on Friday seeking to sell off half of its 800 Ritz camera stores.

The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month to cover more than $54 million in debt to such creditors as Fuji Photo Film, Nikon, Canon USA and Wachovia Bank. A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del., where the case was filed, approved bidding procedures for the sale of the Boater's World assets.

The attorneys for Ritz Camera said the company has received bids from six liquidators and other potential buyers for assets of the marine business, which would be sold at auction on March 17. The attorneys said they would seek court approval to use the same procedure to sell off the 400 Ritz stores in early April.

"The main goal is to move the company back to being a profitable company," said Irving Walker, a Baltimore lawyer who represents Ritz.

"We will liquidate the assets in the less profitable retail stores," Walker said. The company, he added, has not specified which 400 camera stores would be closed. Ritz has a total of 51 stores in the Washington area. "We believe we can reorganize through the Chapter 11 plan and emerge a smaller, better and stronger company."

Ritz is among several major retailers that have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past year. Linens 'N Things and Circuit City, which sought to reorganize, ultimately closed. In its bankruptcy filing last month, Ritz said it wants to "continue as a going concern."


The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for today to discuss why bankruptcy protection often fails to save companies like Circuit City.

"In light of the 2005 amendments to Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, the hearing will examine whether Chapter 11 is working as Congress intended," said Jonathan Godfrey, a spokesman for the committee.

Analysts and legal experts were mixed on Ritz's plan to save itself.

"It sounds like they're shedding their losses and going back to their core business," said Mark Millman, president of Millman Search Group, a Baltimore-based retail-consulting firm.

"They're getting rid of unprofitable stores, unloading the ones where the real estate doesn't work for them," he added. "It's a smart move."

But Marc Ominsky, a Greenbelt-based bankruptcy lawyer not involved in the Ritz case, said the tight credit market makes it difficult for any company going through Chapter 11 reorganization to raise cash to pay off debts. "Who's loaning money [for companies] to buy businesses in trouble?" he said.

Ritz began as a single portrait studio on the Atlantic City boardwalk in 1918. It expanded to a photo processing lab at 11th and G streets NW in the District in 1938. Over the years it expanded by buying regional camera shops throughout the country. It established Boater's World in the late 1980s.

The company in its bankruptcy filing blamed its financial problems on customers' switch from film to less-profitable digital products and the economic downturn, which has severely reduced consumer spending on such big-ticket items as camera equipment and boating supplies

[LuckyLady]

Judge: Boater’s World auction will go forward
March, 11 2009, 08:33 AM
A bankruptcy court judge yesterday approved the bidding procedures for Boater’s World’s assets, with an auction scheduled for noon Tuesday in New York, according to court documents.

Bids are due Monday. A hearing to approve any subsequent transaction is set for March 19.

Ritz Camera Centers, the parent company of Boater’s World, filed for bankruptcy protection last month in Delaware. In court filings, Ritz says selling the business and/or assets of its Boater’s World Marine Centers is necessary to maintain Ritz’s “long-term viability and successful reorganization.”

At the time of its Feb. 22 filing, Ritz operated 130 Boater’s World stores.