For better or worse, photo prints are an increasingly-smaller niche market. Looking at how this significant closure fits into the overall industry picture, this isn’t surprising. What It Means for Serious Photographers and the Industry My suspicion is that pros like myself will probably end up ordering prints through their pro lab (I’m a Bay Photo fan myself) and hobbyists will fall back to CVS, Shutterfly, or another consumer service. I recently hung this new print (not from Costco) in my office. They’ll be competing with decidedly consumer-facing services as well as professional print labs. At that point, they’re basically the same as other online print labs. A few other services are going away entirely:Ĭostco Photo’s other services, including photo prints, metal prints, canvas, calendars, albums, and other products, are being shifted entirely to Costco’s online website, where folks can place and order and have it shipped to their house. What Closed Costco Photo Centers Mean for Existing Customersįor the folks who were used to ordering prints online and having them available later that same day at their local Costco, that service is no more. Photographer Kirk Tuck shares a story and laments the loss of the service he used for his print-related jobs. There are other vendors still offering a similar service (CVS Pharmacy comes to mind), but Costco’s services were a step above, with generally knowledgeable staff. The model was straightforward: you could upload, design, and order your photography products online and then pick up the merchandise in-store, with basic orders being ready within a few hours. Costco currently offers a wide variety of high-quality photo printing services (I’ve used them myself at times) with products ranging from basic photo prints to canvas prints to product offerings such as calendars and books. With nearly 800 warehouse stores, this represents a significant closure of a consumer-facing photography service. Yesterday, Costco announced that it’s shutting down its in-store photo centers ( CNN, PetaPixel). Consumer printing is pining for the fjords…
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |