Fast Photos

Making pictures like pizza

An exultant Jake Faller bounded into the photo shop in Marina del Rey, Calif., with a roll of Kodacolor II film in hand. Just one hour later, the real estate developer raced back to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica to show the pictures of their new daughter to his wife, who was still in the recovery room. That rapid service is the signature of a new addition to the $2.2 billion-a-year consumer photo-finishing field: the one-hour film-processing shop.

The new outlets can develop the pictures faster because of their new, on-site equipment. Most retail processors send film to a central lab, and it may take up to a week to get the pictures back. Leading the way into one-stop photo processing is California-based Fromex One Hour Photo Systems. The new fast picture service is a threat to established film processors like Fotomat, which has 3,670 locations around the U.S. and offers two-day service, and to instant-camera makers like Polaroid as well. Founded just 20 months ago, Fromex now has 62 shops either open or under construction in the U.S., is launching stores in Australia and Mexico and eyeing a spot near the Imperial Palace in Peking. A new outlet in the franchise chain is to open this week in Manhattan, with another scheduled for later this month.

Fromex was started by Dr. Bruce Frome, a Los Angeles anesthesiologist who also develops condominiums, and his wife Dede, a fashion designer. Two years ago, a cousin visiting Toronto returned to Los Angeles with tales of a Japanese processor that turned out color prints within an hour. Intrigued, the Fromes bought the equipment for $125,000 and installed it in the window of a store in Encino.

The gleaming, stainless-steel machine is now the focus in every Fromex store. Customers watch as the film goes in one end of the processor and prints come out the other. Says Dede Frome: "People get excited seeing pizza made, so we figured they would like seeing their pictures getting printed."

Fromex prices are competitive with those of conventional film processors, but some customers doubt the quality of one-hour prints. Says Analyst Eugene Glazer of Wall Street's Dean Witter Reynolds: "The one-hour turnaround does not generally appeal to 35-mm camera users. They spend more for their equipment and want higher quality." Frome insists that his prints are at least as good as those of the leading conventional film developers.

Fromex, though, faces competition in the one-hour market. Technicolor is planning to set up a rival chain of quick developing stores, and many independent photo shops are also adopting the new, faster machinery.

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