Recently, we posted an article on the opening of the worlds first Polaroid Fotobar and according to The Record, the entrepreneur opening up this franchise is from New Jersey. Warren Struhl, formerly of Bergen County, saw promise in the consumer's need to make artistic prints from camera phones and chose to license the Polaroid name because of its iconic stature in the photographic industry. Struhl plans to open 10 stores this year and is even looking into opening a Fotobar in North Jersey. Unique Photo's Matt Sweetwood was quoted in The Record with his thoughts on the idea of opening up the Polaroid printing service:
"Anything that raises consumer awareness for the ability to print either a smart-phone-produced picture or any other kind of picture is really going to be a positive thing" for photography-related business. But, he said, "an excellent idea and successfully executing it at retail are two different things." The demand for large-size prints remains to be seen.
"The nature of photography has really changed from a print to a display situation," Sweetwood said. But over the past few years, printing has been coming back, he said. "Our lab at Unique Photo was up 25 percent last year in terms of its number of prints," he said.