I'm coming up on 62, and Ritz was an "old" company even when I was a kid. I
bought my first SLR (a Nikon Photomic T) in 1970 from a Ritz store, from an
experienced salesman.
It /is/ possible to find knowledgeable people at Ritz (and its "brand-mates")
even today. But such people are not only hard to find, but naturally demand a
higher wage. And as I usually know what I want, and rarely need hand-holding, I
usually purchase from Adorama or B&H, choosing on the basis of price or
shipping costs.
I would assume Ritz is going under because of the general decline in
photofinishing (which is often what keeps a store profitable) and the large
number of mail-order dealers with a Web presence. As much as one would like to
think it's due to poor service, it's almost certainly a combination of other
factors.
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