Brooks Firesale Starts Friday

Online bidding begins Friday, October 14, on high-end photographic and related equipment belonging to Brooks Institute, which announced in August that it would be closing down on October 31. While tens of thousands of items are up for sale — from motion picture cameras and gaffing equipment to computers and office furniture — the school’s parent company, gphomestay, is accepting bulk bids for the entire campus.

Representatives with gphomestay — a company that specializes in finding homes for international students studying in the United States — vaguely referenced changing economic and regulatory conditions as the reason for its abrupt shuttering. Longtime faculty members have said they could understand how Brooks — which had for years struggled with low enrollment — may have become overextended as it renovated historic buildings for a big move into Ventura’s downtown.