The 94-year-old UK-based lighting brand Bowens surprised the photo world last month when it abruptly closed shop and went into liquidation, citing the rise of cheap Chinese brands and fierce competition. The death of a beloved photo brand is (sadly) not too unusual, but former Bowens employees in both the UK and in China say they're furious about how they've been treated during this process.
Sony is making big restructuring moves in order to increase profitability, and one of the big changes has been closing its inefficient physical retail stores. 26 of the stores were closed in 2014, and now the latest word is that in addition to closing all of its shops in Canada, Sony will be pulling the plug on 8 of the 10 remaining US locations.
If you're a photographer who shoots with Sony, you might want to keep an eye on any Sony store near you: you could find it filled with heavily discounted photo gear.
It's the end of the road for the company behind Rolleiflex cameras. Just two months after Fujifilm put up one of its major film factories at auction, DHW Fototechnik is doing a liquidation auction of its own, selling off the massive amounts of equipment used in manufacturing twin-lens reflex cameras.
The auction gives us an unprecedented glimpse into the tools and spaces that were once used to great cameras with the iconic Rollei brand.
Clemson University is apparently ditching film photography and going digital. The public South Carolina-based school has just turned to government surplus auctions to unload its analog gear, and the equipment is being snatched up for ridiculously low prices. The lot of 9 "excellent condition" Hasselblad 500 EL/M medium format camera bodies seen above was just sold for $1,200, which comes out to about $133 for each camera (granted, there are some taxes and processing fees tacked on).
The Internet has won, and the United States' largest camera store chain will soon go the way of the Polaroid camera. We reported earlier tonight that the entire chain of Wolf Stores was slated to be liquidated, but it turns out the damage doesn't end there. A second source has now confirmed that the shutdowns go all the way up, and include Ritz Camera stores as well (Ritz Camera owns Wolf Camera).
Ritz Camera went under the hammer yesterday at a public auction, the latest chapter in the company's efforts to figure out a profitable business model in the increasingly Internet-driven business of selling camera gear. Among the things on the auction block yesterday was Wolf Camera, the competing chain of photo retail stores that Ritz acquired back in 2001. If you're a fan of Wolf Camera shops, here's some bad news: their days may be very numbered.
A source just informed us that all Wolf Camera shops are slated to be liquidated. He heard from a Wolf store manager friend that the chain was purchased by a liquidation company at the auction, and that exact time frames will be announced soon.