Ask Margeret Remy how her photofinishing business has stayed alive in a small town where three other camera retailers have already shut down and she’ll tell you plain: “Because I’m hard-headed!” It may be due in part to her stubbornness, but the 68-year-old owner of Quick Prints in Meridian, Mississippi, has also remained in business for the last 23 years because she is a highly-adaptable retailer, changing her location, marketing strategy, and product lines as her customers’ needs and tastes have changed.
“We quit carrying cameras at all for years,” says Remy. “[We] only special-ordered them because we hated tying up our money all the time. But Olympus came in and did a digital class for us…and it revived the camera selling mentality.” Remy says she’s also having luck these days selling photo gift items, including woven art products (photo blankets) and tote bags. “But what we’re best known for in the community is the restoration and duplication of old photos,” she says. “We’ve built up a very good reputation for being miracle workers.”
Remy says for her size store (2 employees), the best way to stay profitable is to outsource most imaging products and to be in the business of hand-holding customers. “I think people still like to come in here because we treat them like family. They bring their digital camera in and they know we won’t look down on them because they don’t know how to use it. Our customers appreciate our patience.”
