Costco closing all in-store photo centers
FILE - Customers wearing face masks leaving a Costco Wholesale store on July 16, 2020 in Pembroke Pines, Florida. (Johnny Louis/Getty Images)
Costco is saying goodbye to one of the signature staples of its business: in-store photo centers.
The beloved Costco photo department is set to close at all locations on Feb. 14. As a result, customers will no longer be able to get ink refills, passport photos, photo restoration and the YesVideo Home Movie Transfer Service.
However, customers will still able to access various services online at the Costco Photo Center website for delivery to home or business, including photo prints, enlargements and posters, stationery, photo greeting cards, canvas, metal and acrylic prints, photo books, calendars, photo blankets and other gifts, and business printing.
Costco declined to comment to FOX Business on the closures. However, according to an email to customers obtained by PetaPixel, the company cited "the continued decline of prints" as the reason due to the evolution of camera phones and social media.
The retailer is urging customers with any remaining orders to pick them up at their local photo center by March 28.
News of the closings has left Costco customers devastated on Twitter.
"Costco is closing down their photo center I’m DEVASTATED," one user tweeted. "They had the best prices for developing film."
Despite the permanent closure of its in-store photo centers, Costco's business has been booming during the coronavirus pandemic.
Costco reported $42.35 billion in net sales for its fiscal first-quarter last month.
Comparable sales, excluding changes in gasoline prices and adjustments for currency fluctuations, were up 17.1% year over year. When including those adjustments, comparable sales were up 17% in the U.S., 16.8% in Canada and 17.7% in other international markets. Meanwhile, e-commerce sales were up 86% year-over-year.
In the four-week period that ended Nov. 29, after Thanksgiving, comparable sales were up 14.6% to $15.67 billion.