Ritz Camera Centers Inc.

6711 Ritz Way

Year founded: 1918

Industry: Retail

Post 200 Category: Top Private Companies

Revenue: $1.25 Billion

Net Income/Loss: n/a

Earnings per share: n/a

Dividend: n/a

Stockholder equity: n/a

Auditor: n/a

Assets: n/a

Market capitalization: n/a

52-week high: n/a

52-week low: n/a

Chairman and CEO: David M. Ritz

President: Wade R. Mayberry

Employees: 10700

Local employees: n/a

Description: Ritz Camera is the nation's largest camera and photo-processing retailer, with more than 1,200 stores. The family-owned company also owns Boaters World Marine Centers, which has 115 boating equipment stores.

Developments: Ritz opened 50 stores in the past year and plans to open another 50 this year. The company has spent the past year focusing on digital processing. Digital photo technology has overtaken the industry much more quickly than industry executives had anticipated, said Richard Tranchida, Ritz's executive vice president. With customers using cameras, disposable cameras and now cell phones to take digital photographs, Ritz is repositioning itself as a leading developer of one-hour digital photo processing. Last year, Ritz entered into a joint venture with OurPictures Inc., which allows Ritz customers to order digital prints from their personal computers as well to create online digital photo albums that can be e-mailed to friends and family. In December, Ritz partnered with Microsoft Corp. to enable Windows users to order digital prints online to be picked up at a Ritz store. Both moves are aimed at offsetting the trend among digital camera users of printing pictures from their own computers without ever stepping foot in a photo-processing store. (The company declined to discuss how many employees it has, but Forbes Magazine reported Ritz had 10,700 employees nationwide in 2003.)