B&H Photo lays off 400 staff members

B&H Photo and Video, the iconic Manhattan consumer-electronics store, has laid off about 400 of its 2,000 employees, according to published reports. The superstore at Ninth Ave. and West 34th Street closed in mid-March but, according to the Jewish Press, kept employees on staff through Passover.

The store’s HR Director Izzy Friedman told staff last Wednesday the store had “waited as long as possible” before deciding to let them go, and had been paying workers “through the Passover holiday break, and beyond to make this easier,” the Jewish Press said. “It is our sincerest hope and prayer that this global pandemic and its economic impacts will be temporary, and that in the future we will be able to reverse many of these furloughs.”

According to the New York Post, the 47-year-old retailer is still maintaining its online business, store pick-up and call centers.