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Thought the $18 booth in the dead mall in Hartford was a scam, then the old man pulled out his folder
Stopped into the Meriden Square mall last Saturday since its down to like 4 open stores, and this run down photo booth in the food court said $18 for a strip. I almost walked because who charges that in a dead mall, but the owner, some guy named Sal who has been there since 1989, opened a binder showing every single customer since 1991 with their names and dates. He explained the camera is an old Soviet model he imports and fixes himself, and the wait is because he develops each strip by hand in a darkroom behind the counter. Ended up paying and the photos came out better than any digital booth I have used. Has anyone else run into a holdout store in a dying mall where the owner clearly knows something everyone else forgot?
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abby_martinez6d ago
Did he let you flip through the whole binder or just the pages near the front? I ask because those old mall holdouts usually have a reason for the gimmick, and the smart move is to check the dates yourself before you hand over cash. If the entries really run back that far in the same handwriting, that tells you more than anything he says out loud. Next time ask if you can watch him load the film or see the darkroom, since a real setup will smell like chemicals and he won't mind showing it. Places like that survive on regulars, so if the work is good, tell people the booth number and the mall, not just the story.
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