The Kodak Express shop next to Walkers Bakery that everybody in these parts must have used at some point over the years has closed. To be fair, the shutter was open for about 20 years so it was a very long exposure!
I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did although they did have a few of those machines that would print out your digital photos while you waited. It’s too easy and cheap to print at home now, or just upload photos straight from a phone to Instagram or Facebook.
I suspect the average photo now has a lifespan of about a day before the the world has seen it, if it wants to.
I used the shop a fair bit in the old film days to develop Ilford XP2 black and white film as it used the same development process as colour film. No more dust stuck to my self developed negatives that I had hung out to dry so I could get on with the job of printing photos rather than cleaning negatives!
Strouds a vibrant town with lots of independent shops, so it will be interesting to see what that shop space becomes next.