Ritz Camera.

Not the cheapest shop in the Mall, but
just picked up a Nikon A400 for $80.
'
Ideal for a novice, I hope, it's for
my daughter.

And lo, irwell emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Not the cheapest shop in the Mall, but
just picked up a Nikon A400 for $80.
'
Ideal for a novice, I hope, it's for
my daughter.

My experience with Ritz is that, from a corporate chain perspective,
they are overpriced, often egregiously so. From a personal
perspective, I have only encountered one person working at Ritz who
wasn't a condescending, bull-headed, AP or Getty photographer looking
for some extra cash while they try to make their mark in the
photojournalism scene and all the while trying to avoid prolonging any
conversation with a customer more than necessary to shuffle them out
of the store.

On the off chance you meet someone there who actually does want to
speak to you at any length about particulars, they are typically not
professionals with a great deal of experience.

You can save some gas calling the B&H sales line and asking a few
questions. At least when they realize you don't actually want to buy
something and shuffle you away, you can call back and talk to someone
else. Every one of their employees has worked in the field and knows
their stuff.

Or, you can post here G.

At the end of the day, Ritz is hardly the place to go for experienced
advice OR for good prices. It's the place to go if you know what you
need and you want it in your hands immediately; one of the few
remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar retail.

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com

In article ,
Aaron wrote:

And lo, irwell emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Not the cheapest shop in the Mall, but
just picked up a Nikon A400 for $80.
'
Ideal for a novice, I hope, it's for
my daughter.

My experience with Ritz is that, from a corporate chain perspective,
they are overpriced, often egregiously so. From a personal
perspective, I have only encountered one person working at Ritz who
wasn't a condescending, bull-headed, AP or Getty photographer looking
for some extra cash while they try to make their mark in the
photojournalism scene and all the while trying to avoid prolonging any
conversation with a customer more than necessary to shuffle them out
of the store.

On the off chance you meet someone there who actually does want to
speak to you at any length about particulars, they are typically not
professionals with a great deal of experience.

You can save some gas calling the B&H sales line and asking a few
questions. At least when they realize you don't actually want to buy
something and shuffle you away, you can call back and talk to someone
else. Every one of their employees has worked in the field and knows
their stuff.

Or, you can post here G.

At the end of the day, Ritz is hardly the place to go for experienced
advice OR for good prices. It's the place to go if you know what you
need and you want it in your hands immediately; one of the few
remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar retail.

Let's put it this way if hell froze over it would be too soon to do
business with them.

I worked at one over christmas then for another 6 months- some 23 +
years ago and that was too long.

I've tried from time to time to get good prints from them, plain out the
place sucks compared to Walmart.

Of course YMMV. I guess it just depends on the location.












--
Would thou choose to meet a rat eating dragon, or
a dragon, eating rat? The answer of: I am somewhere
in the middle. "Me who is part taoist and part Christian".

"Rita Ä Berkowitz" ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote in message
...
Aaron wrote:

At the end of the day, Ritz is hardly the place to go for experienced
advice OR for good prices. It's the place to go if you know what you
need and you want it in your hands immediately; one of the few
remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar retail.

Ritz is the greatest. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have the world's
best lens, the Nikon 18-200, for $750.

I thought you didn't like Ritz?!

I've often used Camera World, which is now part of Ritz (or vice versa).
They seem to be pretty much the same entity, but I use Camera World because
they don't charge sales tax. I don't know about Ritz, but since they have
business presences in many states I presume they have to charge sales tax at
least in those states.

Got my Nikon D40 kit from Camera World before any other dealer advertised it
as in stock. Since it's $600 wherever you buy it (and probably will be for
some time), and they ship free, plus the no sales tax, that was pretty much
a no-brainer. I've had my order in with them for a 70-300 VR for a month or
so. I'm in no hurry (especially at this time of year here in the northeast),
but my thinking is that lens may be a tremendous seller like your 18-200 and
if so, it may also be out of stock and/or selling at pumped-up prices in
many places. Getting my order in early guarantees I get it for $530,
whenever they start coming in.

Is that how you got your 18-200 for $750?

Neil

Cameraworld, Wolfe's, and Ritz are the same entity.

I have had excellent results with purchasing from Ritz, and have typically
been able to get some of the newer high end Nikon SLR's (e.g. D2X, D2H) way
before they were available at other dealers (including B&H), but at the same
price - no sales tax or shipping charge and using ebates.com as the portal
of entry resulted in 3% rebates on all items purchased (rebate check every 3
months).

Fred

previous poster was right - they can give basic advice - their film
developing sucks

"Rita Ä Berkowitz" ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote in message
...
Aaron wrote:

At the end of the day, Ritz is hardly the place to go for experienced
advice OR for good prices. It's the place to go if you know what you
need and you want it in your hands immediately; one of the few
remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar retail.

Ritz is the greatest. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have the world's
best lens, the Nikon 18-200, for $750.






Rita

On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:08:08 -0500, Little Green Eyed Dragon
wrote:

In article ,
Aaron wrote:

And lo, irwell emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Not the cheapest shop in the Mall, but
just picked up a Nikon A400 for $80.
'
Ideal for a novice, I hope, it's for
my daughter.

My experience with Ritz is that, from a corporate chain perspective,
they are overpriced, often egregiously so. From a personal
perspective, I have only encountered one person working at Ritz who
wasn't a condescending, bull-headed, AP or Getty photographer looking
for some extra cash while they try to make their mark in the
photojournalism scene and all the while trying to avoid prolonging any
conversation with a customer more than necessary to shuffle them out
of the store.

On the off chance you meet someone there who actually does want to
speak to you at any length about particulars, they are typically not
professionals with a great deal of experience.

You can save some gas calling the B&H sales line and asking a few
questions. At least when they realize you don't actually want to buy
something and shuffle you away, you can call back and talk to someone
else. Every one of their employees has worked in the field and knows
their stuff.

Or, you can post here G.

At the end of the day, Ritz is hardly the place to go for experienced
advice OR for good prices. It's the place to go if you know what you
need and you want it in your hands immediately; one of the few
remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar retail.

Let's put it this way if hell froze over it would be too soon to do
business with them.

I worked at one over christmas then for another 6 months- some 23 +
years ago and that was too long.

I've tried from time to time to get good prints from them, plain out the
place sucks compared to Walmart.

Of course YMMV. I guess it just depends on the location.


Unfortunately in many parts of the country all that is left in the way
of camera shops is Ritz, Wolf and whatever else they go by these days.
Thank god for B&H.

If they do not charge your state"s sales tax you will have to pay your
state"s use tax

Rita Ä Berkowitz wrote:
Neil Harrington wrote:

Ritz is the greatest. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have the
world's best lens, the Nikon 18-200, for $750.

I thought you didn't like Ritz?!

I only like them if I can get a good deal from them, which is about twice.
Nobody else was able to deliver that lens to me for $750.

I've often used Camera World, which is now part of Ritz (or vice
versa). They seem to be pretty much the same entity, but I use Camera
World because they don't charge sales tax. I don't know about Ritz,
but since they have business presences in many states I presume they
have to charge sales tax at least in those states.

Yes they do have to charge sales tax in many states. Here's how they
handled my purchase since they listed the lens as $749.99 no tax and free
shipping. They charged me $714.28 plus $35.71 tax for a grand total of
$749.99.






Rita

"Rita Ä Berkowitz" ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote in message
...
Neil Harrington wrote:

Ritz is the greatest. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have the
world's best lens, the Nikon 18-200, for $750.

I thought you didn't like Ritz?!

I only like them if I can get a good deal from them, which is about twice.
Nobody else was able to deliver that lens to me for $750.

I've often used Camera World, which is now part of Ritz (or vice
versa). They seem to be pretty much the same entity, but I use Camera
World because they don't charge sales tax. I don't know about Ritz,
but since they have business presences in many states I presume they
have to charge sales tax at least in those states.

Yes they do have to charge sales tax in many states. Here's how they
handled my purchase since they listed the lens as $749.99 no tax and free
shipping. They charged me $714.28 plus $35.71 tax for a grand total of
$749.99.

Now that you mention it I remember seeing Ritz's ads describing that
arrangement.

So you really like the 18-200. It's good to see that its price has finally
come down to the MSRP, at least at Ritz / Camera World. I'll get one in a
few months -- I don't have much use for such a lens here in the northeast in
the winter.

Neil

"Oliver Costich" wrote in message
...

[ . . . ]

Unfortunately in many parts of the country all that is left in the way
of camera shops is Ritz, Wolf and whatever else they go by these days.
Thank god for B&H.

B&H is okay and so is Adorama, but *usually* you can do better at Buydig.com
or its sister company Beach Camera, as far as cameras, lenses and some other
accessories are concerned. Their prices are almost always lower, they are
absolutely reliable and they ship immediately, with free shipping on many
items.

Neil