Calumet employees showed up for work this morning, only to find the stores shut down after Calumet filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
(See articles at Amateur Photography, Pop Photo, Chicago Tribune, SLR Lounge, and PetaPixel.
Calumets Bankruptcy filing declared $0-$50,000 in assets vs. $10 Million-$50 Million in liabilities.
(The Chicago Tribune story gets the asset declaration wrong. Way wrong. Pop Photo apparently used that as their source, so they get it wrong as well. Amateur Photography didn't mention the declaration. PetaPixel lists $0-$50,000 in assets.)
The abrupt nature of the closing has resulted in problems for the people with personal property located inside the shuttered stores. This includes cameras left for repairs, cameras purchased by customers waiting for pick up and the personal property belonging to Calumet employees.
Individuals that rent camera equipment from Calumet are also effected. The rental property cannot be returned while the stores are closed. This matters as the rented equipment apparently does not belong to Calumet given the asset declaration. It apparently still belongs to the manufacturer.
That rental equipment will have to be accounted for during the bankruptcy proceedings as it appears to belong to a Calumet creditor.
As to the abrupt nature of the store closing, that is partially due to the nature of a bankruptcy. Calumet had a duty to protect all the property in its control that either belonged to someone else or would be liquidated as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
The stores will have to be opened long enough to allow an audit of the equipment and fixtures inside.
That procedure should result in any personal property belonging to customers or employees being set aside for retrieval. It should also allow an opportunity for rental property to be returned.
Update:
Imaging Resource has just joined in on this issue. One thing they point out is that there are multiple Calumet filings.
One filing is for Calumetphoto.com. That lists $0-$50,000 in assets. Another is for Calumet Photographic. That lists $50 Million to $100 Million in assets an under $50 Million in liabilities. Calumet Logistics lists $50 Million-$100 Million in assets and liabilities. Calumet Internation, Inc lists $1 Million to $10 Million in assets.
All filings list the same business address. Based on this, Calumet Logistics is the main business with the others the different branches.
The store portion of the business has assets that match or exceeds liability.
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