Introduction
Costco, the popular warehouse club, has announced that it will be closing its photo business. This news has come as a shock to many customers who have relied on Costco for their photo printing needs. The company has been a leader in the photo printing industry for many years, offering a wide range of services and products. This closure will affect many customers who have come to rely on Costco for their photo printing needs. In this article, we will discuss the reasons behind the closure and what customers can do to find alternative solutions.
Costco Is Closing Its Popular Photo Business
Costco, the popular warehouse club, is closing its photo business. The company announced the news on its website, saying that it will no longer offer photo services, including prints, enlargements, and photo books, as of February 14, 2021.
The company said that the decision was made due to the changing landscape of digital photography and the increasing popularity of online photo services. It also noted that the closure of its photo business would allow it to focus on other areas of its business.
Costco has been offering photo services since 1995, and it has been a popular option for customers looking to print photos or create photo books. The company said that customers who have already placed orders will still be able to pick them up at their local Costco store.
The closure of the photo business is the latest in a series of changes that Costco has made in recent years. In 2019, the company announced that it was closing its optical business, and in 2020, it closed its hearing aid business.
Costco is not the only retailer to close its photo business. In recent years, Walmart, Target, and CVS have all closed their photo services.
Despite the closure of its photo business, Costco said that it will continue to offer other services, such as printing documents, creating custom cards, and creating custom calendars.
There are many perks to paying for a Costco membership beyond just great deals on groceries and other household items.
For years, one of these additional benefits was easy access to high-quality and affordable photo services. At the Costco Photo Center, you could make prints and also emblazon your personal images on all sorts of things from calendars and mugs to blankets and wall art.
But like so many other things that members have enjoyed through the years, the photo center will soon be a distant memory.
Costco is completely shutting down its in-house photo business at the end of January, according to the company’s website. So, if you were planning on ordering prints or other custom items through the warehouse club, you only have a few days left to do so.
The move marks the final death knell for a popular service that the club has been winding down for some time now. Costco previously shuttered its in-store photo centers back in 2021 and shifted those services to its online site, CostcoPhotoCenter.com. Now that site too is going away.
Costco is instead outsourcing these services to online photo giant Shutterfly, which will offer cardholders a 51% discount on all orders through their annual membership to the warehouse club.
Even with the promised discount, however, many Costco members bemoaned the loss of yet another beloved club amenity in a recent Reddit thread. “Costco’s photo products were always high quality and affordable,” noted one commenter. “Have to add this on to list of good things that died at Costco (polish dog, condiments, in-house photo processing, etc). RIP.”
Costco members are advised to place their final orders through the website by Jan. 28 and download any saved images or projects they wish to keep by Jan. 31. Members can also transfer their saved photos and projects to Shutterfly before the site goes dark.
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Chris Shott