Calumet Photo closes US stores, files for bankruptcy... didn't tell employees

That is sad. My heart goes out to all of the employees.

Calumet bought out a store in Tysons Corner, Virginia that I spent a large fortune in during the 90s an early 00's. Many of their employees stayed on -- and they were outstanding professionals.

The issue is that Calumet could never match B&H prices. Never. Even when I'd confront them with B&H prices -- the manager would come out and offer some symbolic discount joke. So, I ended up dumping them on the price issue -- and I entirely suspect I'm not the only customer who left them on those grounds.

Again -- my heart goes out to all of the professionals at Calumet. They are good people -- and will go on to be more successful at better companies.
 
They're website wasn't that good either. I ordered something from them on clearance last Christmas that was already sold. I didn't find out about it until after I inquired about why it hadn't shipped in 4 days.

Ended up getting a calumet branded item at cost (or near to cost) to make up for it which was nice of them, but still I didn't understand how their site had problems like that.

I really like their light stands & feel they are (were) a better deal than anything that B&H had at the same price. You could get a 10' Calumet stand for $40-50 that was just as good as the $80-90 stands that B&H sold, & if you spent $40-50 at B&H you'd get some cheaply made Impact stand or some random generic stand that I've never felt could hold anything heavier than an Arri 150.
 
Man, glad I ordered those quick release plates from them a week or so ago now.

That's terrible. Awful method of informing employees.
 
This is surprising and sad. I have purchased a lot of photo gear from Calumet and always liked their service, products and pricing. With this quick of an exit it makes one think something took a wrong turn internally.
 
It was mentioned it might happen a year ago actually.

They could not compete with the prices of B&H, Adorama, Amazon, and eBay. They didn't have the same amount of bulk purchases/inventory to keep prices low. No matter of anything else that is really all it came down to.

It sucks. I LOVED their cases.
 
Use to go to the Chicago store all the time when I lived there. Much friendlier service than Helix. Definitely a shame for all of the employees.
 
Aaargh! There's a Calumet a few blocks from where I live, and I was planning on making a bunch of purchases there next month - v-mount Sony batteries and Manfrotto-compatible QR plates and the like which were massively cheaper than anywhere else (including B&H). This sux majorly. Also, I don't agree that their prices were always higher than B&H - in fact, for many items (some Calumet branded), they had the lowest prices by far. I have no idea why they failed, but this is not good - at this point there's Samy's left here and a couple of overpriced photo stores. For whatever reason, brick and mortar photo/video stores are just dropping like flies. Samy's not that cheap, and I would guess they'd be next, but I think their rental business keeps them afloat. This is a bummer.
 
that is sad. The staff at Calumet is much NICER compare to Samys. The only problem is they don't have much stuff to display at their store.
 
There is a girl with red hair at Samys who is very nice and helpful. But I've also dealt with some really horrible staff there. I have a post production company, so there is sales tax discount. Trying to get them to honor that discount was a complete waste of my time, and I had a copy of my business certificate with me! So I just said effit and bought the same equipment online.
 
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about Samy's. I appreciate that they usually have the gear I'm looking for, but the prices and the attitude I could do without. On another note, when I bought some batteries from Calumet online, they somehow signed me up for their mailing list circulars, and yesterday I got one advertising various things... just for the heck of it I just clicked on it and it showed a 404 - website no longer there. Amazing. What if I bought something online yesterday... what a mess that would have been. No warning for customers or employees.
 
Well the good news is that it does not affect their UK and European stores..... hopefully it may result in a sale of discount stock from the US.
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I worked for a broadcast network years back that didn't shut down, but had layoffs on numerous occasions. They always did it on a Friday, which the employees referred to as Black Friday. The last layoff they let 33 people go, and posted police protection at the presidents office that day.
 
Mostly I'll miss their light stands. Hands down quality at about half of price of anything quality from B&H. And when they put them on sale, it was almost a steal. I got a C-stand with 2/ grips & an arm for under $100.

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"Behind the scene" report from a Calumet employee

http://petapixel.com/2014/03/13/exclusive-calumet-employee-reveals-happening-behind-scenes/

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Also from Calumet's facebook page:

Stay tuned, as we are exploring opportunities to reopen select locations to keep serving our customers. We will post any updates here if there are any.
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zijital said:
They're website wasn't that good either. I ordered something from them on clearance last Christmas that was already sold. I didn't find out about it until after I inquired about why it hadn't shipped in 4 days.
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Same thing happened to me & that was the first & last [attempted] purchase I made from their website. Still sad to see another company go, they appeared to have a great catalog.

EDIT: JAG35 got in touch with me & made things right
 
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Ryan Lightbourn said:
They've taken my money and haven't responded to my emails for over 2 weeks. Almost $700. I wonder if they're folding as well. I may have to look into a small claims court.
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Did you pay via credit card? If so call your credit card company & see if they can void the charge. You'll probably have to give a reason, but sounds like you have a valid one. I did this a couple years ago with some random vendor I found online & then they didn't respond to any of my e-mails & I received no notice of the tapes I ordered had been shipped.
 
zijital said:
Did you pay via credit card? If so call your credit card company & see if they can void the charge. You'll probably have to give a reason, but sounds like you have a valid one. I did this a couple years ago with some random vendor I found online & then they didn't respond to any of my e-mails & I received no notice of the tapes I ordered had been shipped.
Click to expand...

***EDIT: JAG35 got in touch with me & made things right***

What happened with Jag was that I received a defective EFF. It took ages to get them to ship it, then the day I finally received it, I sent them an email to say that it wasn't working properly (it would die every few seconds). I then got it to work, let them know, then it crapped out for good on my first gig. They were communicating initially & said I'd receive a refund as soon as the return was delivered to them. They stopped answering my emails the second they received the return EFF. So now they have just under $700 of mine, and I have no product at all.

Because their shipping practices were so odd, I filmed & photographed the unboxing. I'm 99% it was used or refurbished as there were finish marks on it. I ordered with PayPal and filed a claim. If that doesn't work out I'll take them to small claims court. I have more than enough evidence, plus I did some research and found a ton of people online complaining about their customer service practices.
 
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So, they're not closing down in Europe?
Because I'm about to buy a cheap set of lights, and was thinking about their Bravo 300 and 1000 (since lowel pro lights are so difficult to find on this side of the pond, at least at good prices).
 
I saw something on the UK Facebook page that said they "were different companies" and the european stores will remain open

I'm a communication major, not a business major, so I know what that means w/o knowing what the hell that means. Still I wouldn't buy any gift cards from the euro stores & anything I buy, I'd think of it "as-is" 'cause I wouldn't put too much trust in extended warranties in their stores, even if they are "a different company."
 
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