I know 1-hour photo was still somewhat relevant in the late 00s when this store was built, but it's still a little surprising to see it get top billing! After all, my family was pretty behind-the-curve when it came to switching from film to digital, compared to pretty much everyone we knew, but I'm pretty sure we had already gotten our first digital camera by the time this store was built, or not long after if not. The "Computers" sign probably wouldn't have felt so outdated then, though, since smartphones and tablets hadn't yet taken over market share like they have today.
It is possible that with London Drug's focus on photography in general, perhaps the 1-Hour Photo sign reinforced the idea of the chain prioritizing the needs of photographers. Maybe not, it might just be the case that London Drugs is/was about a decade past trends at the time. Hey, I'm not complaining!
ReplyDeleteAlthough things had switched to digital by the late 2000s, I do think people were printing their digital photos more often then than now. Back then, most people didn't have a smartphone so the easiest way to share photos or to have something to refer to was to print it. That said, I think most retailers had stopped de-emphasizing 1 Hour Prints if they even still had it by then.
This might be a rather strange way off-topic question, but do you know anything about Fred Meyer apparel-only stores? The topic of the former Blue Mountain Mall in Walla Walla, WA came up recently in a discussion between Houston retail fans and it seems the mall originally had a Fred Meyer that was probably only an apparel store. I'm not sure if you know anything about those. Blue Mountain Mall is an interesting story itself and it must have been one of the biggest mall failures ever. Some of the anchor buildings remain, but even then, there is failure and it seems the big box center that replaced the mall was almost a failure itself!
DeleteAnd, yes, we were talking about Walla Walla! You never know when Walla Walla will be the focus of discussion, lol.
Interesting, I honestly hadn't even considered 1-hour photo being for digital photos, it's so strongly linked to film photography in my mind! I remember digital photography feeling so instantaneous compared to any type of film processing, and I remember one of the exciting things being that you didn't need to have printed, physical copies of every photo you took, but I can imagine some people still wanting quick prints. But at the same time, I don't remember stores advertising 1-hour photo services for anything other than film -- not that it never happened, but I don't think it was a super common thing.
DeleteHuh, no, I didn't know Fred Meyer had clothing-specific stores in the (relatively) modern era, but they sure had a lot of different formats over the years, so it doesn't really surprise me! I also didn't know Walla Walla ever had a mall -- I guess the 80s really was the time that developers thought malls could be successful anywhere! I'm not surprised at all that it died relatively quickly.
DeleteCheck out this photo of the Walla Walla Fred Meyer Apparel store! Link: https://arminda.whitman.edu/islandora/fred-meyer-store-blue-mountain-mall
DeleteCool! Fred Meyer really did have too many formats to keep track of!
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