At the end of March, 2009, our lease for our space in the Van Aken Center expired. Earlier in 2008, we began a process to review our options which included staying in our current location or moving to a new space. We saw this as an opportunity to upgrade our facilites to better accomodate our changing business.

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the greatest percentage of our business came from film processing and printing. But, times have significantly changed. Today, the majority of our business comes from portraits and event photography. We still do a significant amount of digital and film printing, and, we have expanded our offerings in print scanning and VHS to DVD transfers. But, our current store configuation makes it difficult to efficiently and effectively serve your needs.

Besides, we have not been able to refresh and modernize our store appearance and thought that this time presented the best opportunity to clean up our act.

So, at the end of our evaluation process, we were faced with two good options. The first was to renew our current lease agreement and remodel our store. The second was to purchase our own building and start from scratch. We choose the second option.

Besides the value of moving to a new location that is designed for our current needs, this building acquisition demonstrates our commitment to our community. When other businesses are closing or moving to more distant suburbs, we have chosen to stay near our customers. Our investment helps the community by modernizing an old building and making that part of the Van Aken Shopping District more alive and vibrant.

Where

We have purchased the property that was formerly the Elsner's Steak and Steam on Chagrin Boulevard, just a stone's throw from our current location. Our new neighbors will include Chandler and Rudd, Bicycle Boulevard, Curves, Wendy's, Geno's Hair & Nail and the Malcolm Brown Gallery. Our main entrance will be behind the building, coming in from the parking lot. You will be able to get to the parking lot by traveling on Lomond and turning in near the intersection with Chagrin Boulevard.

Hopefully, we will attract more walkers and bicycle riders who might find this location more convenient for them.