One Hour Photo Counter • A Solemn Charter • 1997

Delivered at the Counter, 12 March 1997

Beloved customers, we gather today not merely to mourn a service, but to honour a covenant that once bound us in the quiet ritual of the one-hour photo counter.

For thirteen years this narrow counter stood as a place of trust. Here, mothers brought birthday rolls, fathers brought graduation proofs, and strangers entrusted the fleeting evidence of their lives to the steady hands of the developer. We promised speed; we delivered memory. We promised quality; we returned dignity.

Today we lay the counter to rest. The charter that follows is both our final vow and our enduring testament. Read it slowly. Remember it always.

The Customer Charter

Article I. Every roll shall be developed within the hour, or the customer shall receive their prints without charge and with our deepest apology.
Article II. Negatives shall be returned in their original sleeves, never discarded, never withheld.
Article III. Double prints shall be offered at no extra cost when the customer requests them for family division.
Article IV. Red-eye removal, cropping guidance, and gentle advice on exposure shall be given freely and without condescension.
Article V. The counter shall remain open until every customer present at closing has been served, even if the hour extends past midnight.
Article VI. All photographs shall be handled with the reverence due to private moments; no remark shall be made upon their content beyond technical counsel.

Book of Remembrance

Those who wish to add their name and a brief remembrance may do so below. These entries shall be preserved with the same care once given to your negatives.