Polaroid’s latest foray into the tight consumer electronics industry is a series of “experiential” retail stores where consumers can print digital images into museum-quality art. They will be called Polaroid Fotobar stores, and they are the first of its kind retail destinations designed for photography and art enthusiasts. Polaroid plans to open ten stores this year, with the first store to be installed in a 2,000 square foot location in Delray Beach, Florida. It will be the company’s model for all Polaroid Fotobar locations and is expected to open in February.
Other locations include New York, Las Vegas, and Boston. Polaroid says that each store will be explicitly designed around the consumer experience, with the end goal of turning photos into premium quality art. Polaroid has also trained what it calls “Phototenders” who will guide customers through the process from start to finish. Furthermore, the Polaroid Fotobar stores will soon utilize a patent-pending technology that allows customers to pick their favorite pictures on their devices and have them wirelessly transmitted to the store’s bar-top workstations for quick and hassle-free ordering within seconds.
“There are currently around 1.5 billion pictures taken every single day, and that number continues to grow in tandem with the popularity and quality of camera phones,” said Warren Struhl, the Founder and CEO of Fotobar, LLC. “Unfortunately, even the very best of those pictures rarely ever escape the camera phone with which they were taken to be put on display around our homes and offices. Why? Because turning those pictures into something tangible, creative and permanent is neither easy nor fun. Polaroid Fotobar stores are going to change all of that.”
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