Well, color me nostalgic.
A former Kodak employee* like me found this sign hard miss, front & center at the Kearny Street Walgreen. Also hard not to notice the dated sign type & font. Made me wonder how long ago the last little yellow box graced those shelves.
Gift cards filled most of the prime behind-the-checkout shelf space formerly reserved for Kodacolor, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Plus-X, Tri-X & other familiar Kodak film. Wonder if the profit margins are similar. Gift cards often don’t get used, which is as high-profit as it gets. And film was a huge money-maker for everyone in the supply chain.
Then, also in San Francisco, while refilling my Clipper Card at the Potrero Ave Walgreen, I was faced with this sign!
Makes perfect sense of course. It surprised me that any drugstores still take film at all. Film shooters have joined the ranks of blacksmiths & milliners. These specialties are still alive & well, of course, peopled with enthusiasts. And like those specialists, film photographers love their craft enough to care not at all about the lack of convenience.
And no, I haven’t run a roll through my nice old Nikon since my six-year-old daughter was born. And I only shot film then so that, when she’s a very old lady, she can amaze children with stories of how her dad actually used photo film to take her picture.
*I worked at Ofoto, owned by Kodak for a time during my tenure. Though I never drew a check directly from Kodak, I think it counts!
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