Penn Camera to Remain Under Same Name, New Owner

Chicago-based Calumet Photographic, Inc. has agreed to purchase three remaining Penn Camera locations, including and will continue to operate them under the Penn Camera name, The Washington Post’s Capital Business Blog reported Wednesday.

Beltsville-based Penn Camera . Stores in Rockville, Tysons Corner and on E Street NW in Washington, D.C. remained open and launched clearance sales with the expectation that they also would close.

Under the agreement, Calumet will pay $250,000 in cash at closing, a $350,000 promissory note due in six months and will assume up to $100,000 of gift card liability, The Post reported.

Calumet is asking Penn Camera employees to re-apply for their jobs, The Post reported.

A spokesman for Calumet, which has nine stores in the United States and 16 more across Europe, told The Post that the company expects to retain a majority of the Penn Camera employees. It has not made a decision on the future of Penn Camera president Jeffrey Zweig, whose family founded Penn Camera 58 years ago, the spokesman told The Post.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Maryland on Tuesday ruled that Federal Realty Investment Trust  and Square 407, Penn Camera’s landlord at 401 Ninth St. NW in Washington, will be responsible for paying “thousands of dollars in unpaid rent” for the store's locations, Washington Business Journal reported.

The stores will honor Penn Camera gift cards, The Post reported. .