EVERETT – Jim Haugen’s father wanted the “easiest” job in the U.S. Coast Guard.
The position turned out to be base photographer – taking and developing pictures of life at the Port Angeles station. The decision by the elder Haugen, John, to go the easy route would keep three generations of his family in business.
Six decades later, someone found an easier way of producing photos. On Wednesday, Crown Image will shut its doors in Everett for the final time.
Opened in October 1948, Crown Image has seen its share of changes – in name, in location, in the photo industry. Jim Haugen now owns his late father’s business at 3231 Broadway. Over the years, the store, which began as King Size Photo in the basement of the Everett Theater, has offered a variety of services: processing film, taking passport photos and selling cameras and equipment.
Jim Haugen heard about digital technology several years ago. “I could see the writing on the wall,” he said.
However, he couldn’t have predicted how quickly the decline came.
At its peak in 1980, the business employed more than 300 people and had roughly 100 kiosks and eight retail stores. Sixty vehicles logged 2,000 miles a day picking up film and delivering photos.
“We worked 24 hours a day,” Haugen said.
The business processed 10,000 rolls of film daily. A quarter-century ago, Haugen operated an 18,000-square-foot photo lab in Everett and had another in Portland, Ore.
By 1984, competition began to creep in, and Haugen had a decision to make.
“It was either get big or get small – so we went small,” he said.
Eventually, Haugen sold off everything except the store on Broadway.
Within the last couple of years, digital cameras have penetrated 65 percent of the market, Haugen said. As Crown’s “heavy users” began switching to digital cameras, Haugen saw a dramatic drop in business.
“The real estate appraisers went digital and that’s it, there goes thousands of dollars each month,” he said.
The same dip happened when newspaper and amateur photographers made the change.
While there’s still a market for printing digital photos, large companies such as Wal-Mart, Walgreen and Costco have the edge. Haugen said eventually no film-processing businesses will remain. In the meantime, faster and lower-cost ink jet technology will erode the remaining film-processing market.
Haugen, who remembers sweeping his father’s store as a child, took over the business in the late 1970s. After 30 years, he says, it is time to move on.
The closure of Crown Image took several customers by surprise.
Monroe resident Charles Etter remembers when he started doing business with the Haugens. He began chronicling his own family’s lives in photos when his wife was pregnant with their son. The amateur photographer has taken his film to Crown ever since. Etter’s son turns 49 this year.
“I’ve been going there since it was King back in the ’50s,” he said.
As Etter pursued his own photography interests, he relied on the staff at Crown for advice on his photos, and equipment.
“They’ve got the personal touch. Jim and his staff would always take the time,” Etter said.
And longtime customer Margaret Hodges will have to find a new way to get in her daily walk. The Everett resident takes her morning stroll to Crown Image to get her film developed and is often the first person at the store.
“I take a lot of photos,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of grandchildren.
Unsure where to take her business once Crown closes, Hodges says she might buy a digital camera.
Haugen also is uncertain what the future will bring.
The 53-year-old hopes to lease out the Crown Image building, which encompasses 34,000 square feet, including apartment space above the store. However, he’ll reserve space for a small shop where his son plans to continue the family tradition in a limited sense, doing some studio, photo mounting and restoration work.
The name of the new venture? King Size Imaging.
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