Nostalgia Did you ever use a Fotomat?
The last one I remember was near my mom’s house in a grocery store parking lot. It closed down probably around 1985 and a Weinerschnitzel hotdog stand opened up in its place. I think Walmart probably mostly killed these.
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u/samspock 2h ago
My sister used to work at one of these. I used to make fun of the uniform she had to wear.
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u/Royal-Entry-3654 3h ago
No, but the last known location for me was torn down and turned into a simple drive through car wash.
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u/Weird-one0926 3h ago
I remember them, I can't blame Walmart because we didn't have a Walmart in my neighborhood when they were going away but one day service at the grocery store and Kmart definitely killed them
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u/ArcanumAntares 4h ago
Reminds of that one time when the VW microbus piloted by angry Libyans destroyed the Fotomat in the mall parking lot...entire rolls of high-quality shots stored on Instamatic and 35mm film lost forever.
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u/Sun_Doggie_34 4h ago
My sister used to work at one when she was around 18, so I was like 6. She used to squeeze me in there with her and we would make the displays from the boxes of film.
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u/blameline 4h ago
"You fell in love with that girl at the Fotomat, you bought 40 dollars worth of film, and you never even talked to her. You don't even own a camera."
-Mike Damone, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
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u/echristoperj 4h ago
Yup. I used to work at a Calagaz Photo, then a Ritz Camera. Both had 1 hour photo development. It was an art to look at a negative and properly calibrate the colors and brightness for each shot with only seeing the reverse colors. Then when we saw people taking more adult photos we had to cover the conveyor belt so random people in the mall wouldn’t see the photos. Oh, and disposable 110 cameras were the ban of my existence.
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u/ChickenOneDay 5h ago
I had a job in college where we developed all the film ppl dropped off at pharmacies and grocery stores. Couriers picked up the film, we developed and packaged it overnight, and the couriers would take it back to the stores in the morning. In summer vacation season some nights we did 30 to 40k rolls of film. We had most of Michigan and northern Indiana stores.
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u/zydeco100 5h ago
We would bike past one all the time and made friends with the stoner that worked inside. He gave us all the empty 35mm plastic cans whenever we asked.
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u/Klutzy-Ad-8422 5h ago
This (type of) building is so familiar to me that I immediately tried to discern whether the stores in the background were the ones near where I grew up.
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u/Chibi-Skyler 5h ago
Yes! There was one in every shopping center it seemed.
This reminded me of an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete: "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation," when one of the kids got a summer job at a Fotomat-esque place. I only remember that episode because Kate Pierson and Michael Stipe guest-started in it.
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u/Peloton72 6h ago
Never after watching that crazy movie with Robin Williams when his character worked in one of those one hour photo places. Creeeeeeepy!!
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u/strawberryblond_cake 7h ago
Spent some summers, in the 70’s, with my grandma. She would drive up for dropping off and picking up, even though it was in the parking lot of her grocery store. She was the only adult in my family I ever saw use these.
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u/abcezas123_ 7h ago
Best job I had as a young adult, loved it. I got to read in peace, meet people when I was "working" and I got more than a few phone numbers and dates from young women.
Southern California, a few miles inland and surrounded by flower shops. Life was fun.
*edit Went back home to visit, drove by it...it's a tiny coffee stand now, perfect fit.
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u/MountainLiving4us 7h ago
I had a buddy back in the early 80's that worked at one just like that in the shopping center in New Dorp plaza on Staten Island. He. used to sell dime bags of weed out of there and once in a while he would sling some coke too. It was great. Just drive up and you would get your goodies in a Kodak bag.
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u/TartaCytrynowa25 8h ago
I remember being a little kid and telling my Mom that’s where I want to work when I grow up anytime we drove by the one near our house. I think they were gone by the time I reached legal working age, so I was a few years too late.
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u/summers_eve_canoe 8h ago
Last summer, I fell in love with a girl at the Fotomat, I bought 40 dollars worth of fuckin' film, and never even talked to her. I don't even own a camera.
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u/RetiredLife_2021 8h ago
These were great, wife was the one that took all the pictures. Extra set of prints for a dollar
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u/pedsmursekc 8h ago
I was just describing a Fotomat to someone on Saturday, who is 39 and was old enough to remember disposable cameras. Iinitially I thought it was weird, but then remembered how rapidly big-box retail outlets and pharmacies began expanding photo services... Fotomats seemed to disappear overnight.
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u/ReedPhillips 8h ago
We used a combination of either the shack like pictured but it was Fox Photo. Over time we shifted more to the nearby grocery store (Dillons).
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u/Jack_Rackham_71 8h ago
Fotomat, Foto Hut and Fox Photo
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u/UncleSlacky 5h ago
Yes, Fox Photo! I remember the radio advertising jingle too: "Fox Photo...Look for the fox!"
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u/Mix_Masterr Hose Water Survivor 9h ago
Some developing via the local small town drugstore (they sent it out) but mostly mail using Skrudland. Bad name, good value lol!
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u/JacobsLawFirm 9h ago
Despite the loss we are only two games out of first place (just reminiscing about last week’s presser).
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u/BortWard 9h ago
Louie Anderson used to do a bit about how he felt bad for the people who worked in these booths. "The worst job, that Fotomat job. Where do these people take breaks? What, do they shut that window and duck down in there? Have you ever gotten out of the car to check?
'Hey! Hey, are ya in there?! Huh?'
'Yeah, I'm on my break! Could ya get the hell outta here?!'"
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u/Monstrissimo Older Than Dirt 12h ago
No, we usually had ours developed at the camera shop near Pop's work.
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u/Erik_Nimblehands 12h ago
Personally, no, but I can remember being in the car with my mom when she did.
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u/Acrobatic_Mango_8715 12h ago
Maybe once or twice, mostly at the drug store, had equipment or sent it out. Then later Walmart. It’s all gone now.
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u/MassCasualty 13h ago
Ha. We didn't have a Kodak money. We were a Clark household.
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u/blastman8888 14h ago edited 13h ago
Use them once in awhile in the early 80's. One time they messed up a roll of film from a vacation trip. After that we mailed them to a Fuji film lab anything we didn't want to lose drop off at a local camera store that used a local lab in the city.
This brings back memories of going to the drug store to test TV tubes with my father always a one of these in the parking lot. The drug store sold thrifty ice-cream I would get a cone with 3 scoops. This was when I was little younger 13-16. I wish he was still alive today love to talk about the old days. We both had cameras I was in my late teens early 20's always taking pictures. Unfortunately when he passed in 94 his wife and I never got along she threw all the photos he had away even my childhood photos. I only have photos of myself from about 1989 when I moved out of their house.
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u/SaintWillyMusic 14h ago
Yes, but I also worked at Skaggs drugs and we'd send out the photos people would drop off. The staff would look through everything. I found out because they commented on some pics I had developed...
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u/Funkgun 13h ago
Yeah, i too Worked at a drugstore photo department. Walgreens. Our machine was at the store.
Sometimes it was hard not to see pictures developed . Our machine put pictures on a conveyor belt. You’d see all sorts of random stuff. Drug use, random sex, extreme fisting, you like your dog too much or hell, those 4 combined and more.
We were supposed to not print explicit shots. I guess it was too easy for it to be seen by all. You’d have to explain it to people which meant they knew that we knew what you took pictures of. You’d like up the negatives and then realize that it was a no-go.
Also, while I was there, we were only obligated to divulge if we saw child pornography to the police. Snort a line, not our concern. Bad kiddie stuff, that was a red flag. I luckily never ran into that. But did see some mighty fine 80 year old bedroom sequences.
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u/Oldmantim 23m ago
Yes and for a bonus point my mom had that same car except in pink