Walmart offers exceptional value to the photo customer, although Walgreens has beome my closed second favorite (I've never bought into the AFL-CIO anti-Walmart disinformation campaign). Walmart for instance will process almost anything and cheaper than anyone else. That includes Kodachrome, 120, black and white, movie film (16mm, 8mm, and Super 8) - amazing, but true. Of course they send all but the C41 to outside labs. They remind me a bit of K-Mart in the days when K-mart had a serious photo department. Their customer service is also good. They actually call me at home when my Kodachrome is ready without me even asking! Lately they've turned it around in less than a week.
The old-line photo store in these parts, Sammy's camera, doesn't really care about film photographers. Their goal is to convince us we're dinosaurs and pitch us digital cameras sold on commission. In this area these big photo chains (Sammy's, Ritz) devoured the "mom-and-pop" photo shops long before Walmart hit the scene.
|