Business - Business News

POSTED: Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Bellingham photo lab holds onto customers by keeping variety of services

Each week The Bellingham Herald takes a closer look at a business or construction project. This week: Quicksilver Photo Lab.

What's new: Quicksilver recently began printing photos and artwork on canvas. People can bring in digital files or an original piece of artwork and have it reproduced onto a canvas which is wrapped around wood; no frame is necessary, owner Jeff Daffron said.

The store also has begun creating signs for local businesses using 100 percent recycled paper.

What it does: Quicksilver offers a number of services including camera repair, passport photos, film processing, digital photo prints, enlargements and reprints. The store also sells a variety of products such as digital cameras, albums, lighting equipment and tripods.

Ownership: Jeff Daffron has been the sole owner of Quicksilver for 25 years.

Marketplace: In addition to Whatcom County, Quicksilver has customers from Everett and the San Juan Islands. Some orders come from people who used to live in Bellingham and now live in other states. Daffron said he thinks those customers stay loyal because it's hard to find a photo lab that offers all of the same services as Quicksilver.

Employees: 5.

Claim to fame: Quicksilver is one of the few local photo labs that still process traditional film. While some stores can still print color photos from 35 mm film, Quicksilver can produce odd sizes of film in both color and black and white.

"We didn't jump on the bandwagon right away with digital," Daffron said, adding that photo labs that went digital right away paid as much as $250,000 for the equipment. "We stuck with the traditional stuff until digital got cheaper," he said.

In the past year, Quicksilver has seen an increase in the number of customers who want to scan their old film to digital.

"One customer brought in 3,000 prints," said Daffron said.

Quicksilver Photo Lab

1130 Cornwall Ave.

Bellingham, WA 98225

360-676-2725

Online: quicksilverphotolab.com