Penn Camera Declaring Bankruptcy, Five Stores Closed

Photo by Mr. T in DC

This post has been updated

It's not a particularly good week for some local business mainstays.

Penn Camera, one of the last reliable brick-and-mortar camera stores in and around the District, has filed for bankruptcy. According to an employee that DCist spoke to, five of the eight area stores will close immediately, while three -- E Street, Rockville and Tysons Corner -- will remain open, at least for now.

"We don't know what will happen to those 3 stores after the inventory sells out, but they will most likely close as well," the employee said.

A manager at the E Street store referred our inquiries to Penn Camera's headquarters in Maryland, but no one picked up the phone there. No one picked up the phone at the stores on 18th Street NW or in Springfield Commons, Fair Lakes or Laurel this morning either.

The news of Penn Camera's demise after almost 60 years serving local photographers isn't surprising given the dramatic shifts that are taking place due to the advent of online shopping. Yesterday, Dupont Circle's Melody Records closed its doors after 34 years in business; local and independent bookstores have similarly been felled in recent years, and even corporate chains like Blockbuster have succumbed to pressure from online competitors. In 2009, Maryland-based Ritz Camera similarly folded. (It has since reappeared around the area.)

In a posting on a forum at Photo.net, user Tom M. expressed his disappointment with the news.

"This is a sad day, especially for the many highly experienced photographers that worked at Penn Camera. It is almost certainly just another example of the direction the industry is going, ie, fewer bricks and mortar stores, fewer prints being made, relatively inexperienced kids manning the counters at the chain camera stores. Ugh."

Others may similarly mourn the store's loss, but recognize that it could have done more to save itself: "They haven't done some of the fundamental stuff that would keep local folks walking in the door. And they haven't gotten it together and created an online business that leverages their local footprint," wrote Matt Laur.

UPDATE, 12 p.m.: Shortly after we posted this, Penn Camera replaced its website with a message on the impending bankruptcy. The statement said:

Penn Camera Exchange Inc., with eight retail stores in the Washington DC metropolitan area, and fixture since 1953, regretfully announced on Wednesday January 4th 2012 that it has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Five locations will be closed immediately and we will hold a special clearance sale at our E Street, Rockville and Tysons locations.

A dramatic decline in sales performance during the preceding holiday period has precipitated this action.