|
Calumet Photographic, Inc. better known as Calumet Photographic or Calumet Photo and formerly known as Calumet Manufacturing Company〔 is a photographic retail and photofinishing specialty store, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. In 2012, the company owned and operated a chain of 32 locations worldwide. The company had 15 locations in the United States, 8 in the United Kingdom, 6 in Germany, 2 in the Netherlands and 1 in Belgium,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Store Locations )〕 with 200 employees and an annual revenue of $10 million. On March 12, 2014, Calumet Photographic Inc filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. C&A Marketing Inc., the New Jersey-based owners of a number of retail photo brands including Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Inkley's, Camera World, and RitzPix, purchased the US-based assets on May 1, 2014 for $4 million. On May 7, 2014, the company announced that it would reopen its Oak Brook, Illinois, retail store location, and did so on May 11; it currently serves as the anchor for the brand.〔(C&A Marketing Will Reopen Calumet Photographic’s Oak Brook Location Sunday May 11 ), ''C&A Marketing Inc''. May 7, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2015.〕 ==History== In 1939, Kenneth Becker founded the sporting goods store Calumet Manufacturing Company that sold an occasional camera in Chicago.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Calumet Photographic )〕 After several years of manufacturing darkroom equipment, in 1955 the company bought the rights to Kodak's Master View 4x5 camera, enabling Kodak to leave the view camera business.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About Calumet Photographic )〕 In the 1960s, the company innovated the Caltar large format lens line, the C-2 roll film holder and the nitrogen burst film and print processors.〔 In 1980, the company transitioned from being a large format proprietary product vendor to being a full-line photographic product supplier.〔 In 1983, the company left the view camera manufacturing business and outsourced production to the Netherlands. In 1989, Calumet made a notable improvement on Polaroid instant film technology. In 1992, the company leased of office space in Bensenville, Illinois, and relocated its corporate headquarters. The current headquarters are on West Bliss Street in Chicago.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Company Overview of Calumet Photographic, Inc. )〕 In the 1990s, Calumet acquired the United Kingdom photo retail chain Keith, Johnson and Pelling and as recently as early 2009, the company had 20 locations in Europe. In 2007, the retail location in Bensenville was moved next to the Oakbrook Center shopping mall in Oak Brook, Illinois.〔 In February 2012, the company acquired the three remaining Washington, DC, area Penn Camera locations after a United States bankruptcy court ruling following Penn Camera's elimination of 5 of its 8 locations. In October 2012, the company opened three new locations in Maryland, Florida and Illinois following the bankruptcy and liquidation of Ritz Camera.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Store Locations )〕 Calumet stores hosted free classes, seminars and demonstrations in dedicated spaces.〔 On March 13, 2014, the following was posted on the company's Facebook page: "After 75 years of business it is with a heavy heart that we announce our immediate closing in the United States (our European stores will continue). It has been a joy to share our passion for photography with you all of these years. We'll miss each other and we'll miss all of our customers. Thank you for everything." At the same time their website and Twitter account also went offline. Shortly after, the same message was posted on the locked doors of the closed stores. According to ''Crain's Chicago Business'', the company filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy after a lender opted not to continue its financing. In April 2014, some of the principals bid on the inventory, store leases and other assets. On May 2, C&A Marketing Inc. acquired most of the assets and announced plans to reopen both calumetphoto.com and the equipment rental business. Less than one week later, the C&A announced that it would reopen the Oak Brook, Illinois location on May 11. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Calumet Photographic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|