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American retailer Costco is shutting down the photo labs in a growing number of its stores, according to letters the company has sent to its customers. The most recent letter to surface comes from the company’s store in Woodland, California, which plans to close its photo department on April 25.
The letter, which was recently published by PetaPixel, cites low demand as the reason for the closure, stating, ‘the need for printing photos has steeply declined, even though the number of pictures taken continues to grow.’ The retailer will continue to offer photo printing through its Photo Center website and at select other locations, however.
Photo Center customers who receive the letter from Costco are offered a $ 50 credit for use with the company’s photo website. This is the latest among a growing number of Costco photo department closures. According to The Dead Pixels Society, the company will also shutter all but one photo department in its Massachusetts stores, as well as the photo lab at its busiest Hawaii location, the Iwilei store.
Though Costco has made the decision to repurpose its limited floor space in stores with low consumer printing demand, select other retailers continue to offer in-store photo printing services, including Walgreens and Walmart. Online photo printing services remain ubiquitous, and Costco is still counted among them.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)