coin-op photo booths and Kmart photos

[cfz2882]

When a local Kmart opened in 1978,it featured a little booth that you would get
into,pull the curtain closed,put in the money and get a mugshot! Oneday around
1987 it was removed and i havent seen one since...
Also,during the same era,would get family portraits taken by a proffesional
photog at kmart-pics were good and these pics are now family treasures.
Anyone else remember the days of Kmart photos?

 

[laundromat]

They went digital

 

[washerboy]

yes

K-Mart was a big deal when I was growing up....I do remember having my pic taken with a cousin...but what I remeber the most is their carmel popcorn, bulk candy counter and the Red Grill..and of course the "blue light special" Too bad they let themselves crash...or at least here they did here...we have one store left and I have'nt been in it in probably 3 or 4 years; kinda of over priced and not exactly close to home. Before they closed several of their stores they had become "customer no service".

 

[dirtybuck]

Ah, The Good Old Days!

The things I remember about those photo booths:
Nine times out of ten they were out of order
It took forever for the photos to appear
The photos were always dark
The solution used to develop the photos smelled like rotten eggs.

(And if memory serves me correctly, Woolco and Woolworth's also had them)

 

[whirlcool]

In fact I remember them more for being in dime stores like G.C. Murphy, Woolworth's and Kresge than anywhere else. I always thought they were strange for some reason.

 

[tolivac]

There are digital photo booths in the shopping center out my way-haven't tried it.Vaguely remember a sound booth at Glenn Echo amusement Park near Wash DC-I watched someone else use it-you go in it-put your money in the slot and talk or sing into the microphone in the booth.then you would get a small record-like a 45-out of a slot.Would be a recording of your voice.This was when I was little.My Mom wouldn't let me try the thing.

 

[franksdad]

Woolworth and Kress on Main Street had these when I was young.  I still have some of the strip photos of when I was a child.  They were fun but they went the way of Woolworth and Kress...

 

[chuffle]

I remember...

...those photo booths in K-Mart and many local five and dime stores of the 1960s/1970s. We would crowd into the booth and make the strangest faces as the picture was taken.

The big thing that I remember about K-Mart from those days were their hoagies - we lived a two hour drive from the nearest K-Mart, so when we got to shop at one a couple of times a year, my parents always bought hoagies for our lunch, eaten in the car, on the way back home.

It was a simple time then, and little things meant a lot and were big deals for us.

Joe

 

[kevin313]

Making a comeback of sorts...

These photo booths are becoming popular once again on the party circles. In the past year, I attended two large benefit dinners (took place in hotel ballrooms) and in the cocktail areas where the bars were they had these photo booths. I assume they use digital technology, but the look just like the old KMart models and work the same way. What fun we had jamming into these and making poses...wonderful souveniers of the events, too.

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has one of these vintage machines, and you can put money in it and have your pictures taken.

 

[whirlcool]

Come to think of it, when I was growing up our local town & parks recreation center had one of these machines for making pool ID cards. You had to pay a $10.00 fee per season to use the community pool and for a week they set up a registration center in a school indoor basketball court. You completed out the paperwork, paid the fee, then went into one of those machines to have your photo taken, three photos were made. Then you selected which one you liked the best (they were usually all terrible) and they cut it out and laminated it onto a Parks & Recreation Pool Pass card. You were then allowed entry to the community pool.
And of course, you had to have a parent with you to sign a disclaimer.