I dont believe Bill is at Inkley's any more. I was in there last week, and the area where his display cases and and telescopes was cleared out. just 2 scopes on the floor.
I was in last Friday and talked with him. Earlier in the week, from other staff, I was told that he works Mon Wed Fri 10 to 2. He said they are not going to be a Meade dealer. He has his Celestron equipment for sale in the storage room. They have a couple of Meade hard cases on clearance sale at 50%. Sorry, I'm not a Meade guy so I didn't pay close attention to the details on the cases. I discussed buying a Celestron 4se or 5se and he indicated it could be ordered. Checking internet news stories, Ritz filed for Chapter 11 on Feb. 23 which was 5 days before when I talked with Bill. Chapter 11 means reorganization - the company continues to operate during bankruptcy reorganization. I understand post-filing debts and business have priority over any debts pre-petition. In some respects, companies that have filed for Chapter 11 are more financially secure companies for retail consumers to deal with since they have just been released from their crushing debt load. Not so good for suppliers that are owed money before the filing. The real risk - which is usually a small one - is that a company will convert to Chapter 7 liquidation in the middle of the Chapter 11 case. The internet news stories also indicated that it was the Boater's World side of the Ritz business was a contributor to sinking the ship (no pun intended), but the decline in demand for photo-printing from the rise in digital camera use also was a cause in the company's decline in revenue. IMHO that's what sunk Howell's last year. I still intend to go back and order from him depending on resolution of one technical question by Celestron. I intended to hand him a check to prepay for the whole scope, but will probably cut the advance offer back to 50% of the total purchase because of the bankruptcy. Although I do not know his current situation, my heart goes out to Bill in these tough economic times. - Kurt