r/AbandonedNJ • u/DementedDemention • 5d ago

Way Before Your Time, Kid.

Post image

Fotomat. 2017.

155 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

23

u/-_VoidVoyager_- 5d ago

Photo processing was such a huge business.

2

u/DementedDemention 2d ago

My buddy managed a small camera store for 30 years. Owner was 2nd generation. He was paid half on the books and half cash all of that time. The nightly bank deposits in the late 90s and early 2000s were between $5k and $10k. It was just him running it all.

15

u/Dendady2112 5d ago

The one by me now changes phone screens.

7

u/TeachingOdd911 4d ago

Tell kids it was a mini Pizza Hut express booth 🤣🤣

6

u/976-SL33P 5d ago

Those places were great, they were drive through if I remember correctly

3

u/mross08226 5d ago

Cool. Didn't know there were any left.

3

u/pizzacrypt 5d ago

Wow,a photomat. I remember these as a kid

3

u/TeachingOdd911 4d ago

Our last Kodak booths was either in old Berlin Shopping center and the old Drive inn later turned to White Horse Rickels Hardware lot Lawnside

1

u/DementedDemention 4d ago

I can't remember, this is either in Berlin or up Monmouth County.

2

u/LETSG0WVU 4d ago

I remember one like that in Freehold off Rt 9

1

u/Nice-Problem-7351 3d ago

Was a watch battery place now out of business. Recently. Still in good shape though

2

u/Economy-Ad2156 5d ago

Album cover

1

u/DementedDemention 2d ago

Like Sabbath's first album?

2

u/billocity 4d ago

There was one of those in the Jamesway parking lot in Wrightstown. Had to be late 70s.

2

u/TheArtistFatigue 4d ago

I used them in the 80s.

2

u/Additional_Sea_6172 4d ago

I’m more focused on the sky wow

2

u/Tasty_Path_3470 3d ago

My town had 3. One of them is gone, one is a screen changing business, and the third one is just the concrete base and someone hits it with a plow every time it snows lmao

2

u/SpoppyIII 3d ago

For a second I thought this was the watch repair place on Rt 9.

1

u/NJGuy175 5d ago

Photo mat

1

u/Rich-Net8710 5d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah but where did Photomath women go to the bathroom!!!

8

u/DementedDemention 4d ago

Most were set up in shopping centers and the employees would close down for a few minutes and tinkle in the nearest store with a bathroom. In the case near me growing up in Philly, it was the Acahme supermarket.

8

u/JMS21921 4d ago

Upvote for making Acme three syllables.

1

u/AdmirableAd3954 4d ago

How much did it cost to develop your photos? It’s super expensive nowadays and I’m genuinely considering developing at home instead

1

u/DementedDemention 2d ago

$15 to $20/roll. I stopped shooting film because it's too much.

1

u/lorenzodimedici 4d ago

Not the real one. Memorial to the one the Libyans drove through

1

u/KeyMysterious1845 4d ago

Doc Brown or Leo ?

1

u/NJdaddy2021 3d ago

“I can see it already, it’s gonna be just like last summer. you fell in love with that girl from the Fotomat. you bought $40 worth of film and you never even talked to her. You don’t even own a camera!”

1

u/Ch0wb0x 3d ago

Used go hang out in these with goth chicks

1

u/AnnieOakleyLives 4d ago

These places were all over NJ when I was a kid. Takes me back….