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Back in Focus
Digital technology put Mitch Goldstone's photo shop on the national stage.
By Gary GoldhammerPublished: March 04, 2004
Mitchell Goldstone is a verb. He is action personified. He is a human power plant, moving from one deal, one customer and one crusade to another with the ease of a summer breeze and the precision of a brain surgeon.
His electric smile accents his inner intensity and passion for the photo imaging business, for corporate clients like General Motors and partners like Kodak and for sharing his success with his peers and community. Meet him once, and you will be convinced that the only reason Rome wasn't built in a day is because Goldstone wasn't around to supervise the project.
"I'm not sure that I would ever call Mitch normal-he takes it to another level," says Tim Shaw, CEO of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, whose board Goldstone has served on since March 2003. "You look for people who are going to bring ideas and energy but also people who are going to do the work. Mitch shows up, comes up with great ideas and makes it happen."
Not much gets under Goldstone's skin. So last year, when the march of progress threatened to put his business on the scrap heap of celluloid history, did the 41-year-old entrepreneur panic? Please.
"Carl and I are fighters," says Goldstone, referring to his business partner, Carl Berman. "Giving up was not an option."
Goldstone and Berman own 30 Minute Photos Etc. in Irvine, a neighborhood photo shop which, from the outside, looks little more than just another storefront in just another Orange County strip mall. But inside, you are greeted by high-tech photo kiosks and high-touch customer service. There are framed newspaper clippings from the Irvine World News to the New York Times. And there are piles upon piles of digital photo processing orders from across the United States.
Goldstone says he was successful from the day the store opened in 1990, experiencing double-digit sales increases every year Bill Clinton was president. Early partnerships with industry standard bearers IBM and Kodak helped fuel the fire, while the entrepreneurial skills Goldstone honed at USC - and his community involvement - fanned the flames of his success.
"I couldn't do anything wrong no matter how much I tried to screw things up," jokes Goldstone, a native of Long Island, New York. "And then, things changed.
"We were hit by a double whammy-not just the recession but a change, a shift in technology. The low point was when people stopped traveling, getting married, having special events. And then they started buying digital cameras, taking pictures and keeping them on their computers.
"Toward the end of 2002, sales stopped," Goldstone says. "Every month was worse and worse. I started to become familiar with friends out of work and businesses closing.
Goldstone says he saw the economic downturn and rise of digital photography coming, but didn't think that his loss of revenue would be so prolonged or that the adoption of digital cameras would be so rapid.
"It was very tough...we just had to cut all expenses," he says. "But we believed in the future."
Going digital
In January 2003, Goldstone opened an online storefront that allows people anywhere to submit their digital photos and get them professionally processed the same day. That same year, more than two-thirds of digital camera users made their own prints at home, according to the Photo Marketing Association. However, the professional finishing market is growing-a new PMA report forecasts retailers like Goldstone will make 60 percent of digital prints by 2006.
People use Goldstone's online system to select the appropriate resolution and crop or adjust their images, request special enlargements or create photo greeting cards-and it all takes just a few minutes to complete. Goldstone then prints the photos just as if they were images captured on film, seals them in an express mail envelope and sends them back to Kentucky, Maine, Michigan or wherever they belong. Gone is the frustration and hidden expense (toner, anyone?) of people producing photos on their inkjet printers.
In addition to online and targeted direct mail marketing, part of Goldstone's renewed success comes from the relationships he's cultivated with major corporations from IBM to automakers and defense contractors. "We are members of many different groups and I have friends at fortune 500 companies around the nation," Goldstone said, explaining some of the reasons behind his online accomplishments. "I offer employees within these organizations discounts to use us. I don't even know where some of these (places) are....we get orders from all over the nation."
Goldstone may not recognize some of the postal codes, but he does recognize what both the rising desire for digital prints and the immediacy and pervasiveness of the Internet have meant for his company's turnaround.
"I used to have a picture of the store on the Web site, and I took it down because it looked too small," Goldstone said. "People had the perception we were this giant entity because of all the stuff we do; and as an entrepreneur that's what you want people to think."
Putting community first
Goldstone likes to be called an entrepreneur-but in 2002, he almost earned another name: councilman.
Goldstone lost that Irvine City Council race by 63 votes, but his community involvement is unwavering. His support of organizations and causes - both local and national - is in part what helps his business prosper.
In addition to his board position with the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, Goldstone is on the Board of Directors of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce and is chairperson of the Irvine Community Services Commission. His philanthropy and activism have made national headlines: After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Goldstone organized 5,000 people in 23 cities to travel to New York on Veteran's Day to spend money and show their solidarity.
"Mitch is smart to be involved, he is incredibly savvy," says Shaw of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation. "Being involved (in the community) is not only a good thing for the organization but a good thing for your business."
Goldstone can't help but be involved-asking him to sit still is like asking the sun not to
rise. The benefit his community work has on his business is just gravy.
"Our online business is growing by the day," Goldstone says. "We often have people working past 9 p.m. and as early as 5 a.m. because of the volume of orders and our commitment to fulfill every order the same weekday it arrives. We are preparing to invest in the newest line of Noritsu digital equipment to help support our growth. And we're starting a new online service for people to store and have 30 Minute Photos Etc. print images directly from their mobile phones."
The Irvine store isn't going anywhere either-although much of his business is now online, Goldstone wants to maintain his local touch. And besides, there are still some people coming in with good old-fashioned film.
"Before, all I did was make photographic prints-now I'm making photographic prints from so many different areas, from a customer base across the nation, to people using our self-service kiosks, to people dropping off prints," Goldstone said. "Plus, I've become a specialty retailer, an expert in digital.
"I don't want to say that the pie got larger," Goldstone said with a smile. "But now, I own a bakery." OCM
Gary Goldhammer is a Tustin-based writer.
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Mitchell Goldstone is a verb. He is action personified. He is a human power plant, moving from one deal, one customer and one crusade to another with the ease of a summer breeze and the precision of a brain surgeon. His electric smile accents his inner intensity and passion for the photo imaging business, for corporate clients like General Motors and partners like Kodak and for sharing his success with his peers and community. Meet him once, and you will be convinced that the only reason Rome wasn't built in a day is because Goldstone wasn't around to supervise the project. "I'm not sure that I would ever call Mitch normal-he takes it to another level," says Tim Shaw, CEO of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, whose board Goldstone has served on since March 2003. "You look for people who are going to bring ideas and energy but also people who are going to do the work. Mitch shows up, comes up with great ideas and makes it happen." Not much gets under Goldstone's skin. So last year, when the march of progress threatened to put his business on the scrap heap of celluloid history, did the 41-year-old entrepreneur panic? Please. "Carl and I are fighters," says Goldstone, referring to his business partner, Carl Berman. "Giving up was not an option." Goldstone and Berman own 30 Minute Photos Etc. in Irvine, a neighborhood photo shop which, from the outside, looks little more than just another storefront in just another Orange County strip mall. But inside, you are greeted by high-tech photo kiosks and high-touch customer service. There are framed newspaper clippings from the Irvine World News to the New York Times. And there are piles upon piles of digital photo processing orders from across the United States. Goldstone says he was successful from the day the store opened in 1990, experiencing double-digit sales increases every year Bill Clinton was president. Early partnerships with industry standard bearers IBM and Kodak helped fuel the fire, while the entrepreneurial skills Goldstone honed at USC - and his community involvement - fanned the flames of his success. "I couldn't do anything wrong no matter how much I tried to screw things up," jokes Goldstone, a native of Long Island, New York. "And then, things changed. "We were hit by a double whammy-not just the recession but a change, a shift in technology. The low point was when people stopped traveling, getting married, having special events. And then they started buying digital cameras, taking pictures and keeping them on their computers. "Toward the end of 2002, sales stopped," Goldstone says. "Every month was worse and worse. I started to become familiar with friends out of work and businesses closing. Goldstone says he saw the economic downturn and rise of digital photography coming, but didn't think that his loss of revenue would be so prolonged or that the adoption of digital cameras would be so rapid. "It was very tough...we just had to cut all expenses," he says. "But we believed in the future." Going digital In January 2003, Goldstone opened an online storefront that allows people anywhere to submit their digital photos and get them professionally processed the same day. That same year, more than two-thirds of digital camera users made their own prints at home, according to the Photo Marketing Association. However, the professional finishing market is growing-a new PMA report forecasts retailers like Goldstone will make 60 percent of digital prints by 2006. People use Goldstone's online system to select the appropriate resolution and crop or adjust their images, request special enlargements or create photo greeting cards-and it all takes just a few minutes to complete. Goldstone then prints the photos just as if they were images captured on film, seals them in an express mail envelope and sends them back to Kentucky, Maine, Michigan or wherever they belong. Gone is the frustration and hidden expense (toner, anyone?) of people producing photos on their inkjet printers. In addition to online and targeted direct mail marketing, part of Goldstone's renewed success comes from the relationships he's cultivated with major corporations from IBM to automakers and defense contractors. "We are members of many different groups and I have friends at fortune 500 companies around the nation," Goldstone said, explaining some of the reasons behind his online accomplishments. "I offer employees within these organizations discounts to use us. I don't even know where some of these (places) are....we get orders from all over the nation." Goldstone may not recognize some of the postal codes, but he does recognize what both the rising desire for digital prints and the immediacy and pervasiveness of the Internet have meant for his company's turnaround. "I used to have a picture of the store on the Web site, and I took it down because it looked too small," Goldstone said. "People had the perception we were this giant entity because of all the stuff we do; and as an entrepreneur that's what you want people to think." Putting community first Goldstone likes to be called an entrepreneur-but in 2002, he almost earned another name: councilman. Goldstone lost that Irvine City Council race by 63 votes, but his community involvement is unwavering. His support of organizations and causes - both local and national - is in part what helps his business prosper. In addition to his board position with the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, Goldstone is on the Board of Directors of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce and is chairperson of the Irvine Community Services Commission. His philanthropy and activism have made national headlines: After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Goldstone organized 5,000 people in 23 cities to travel to New York on Veteran's Day to spend money and show their solidarity. "Mitch is smart to be involved, he is incredibly savvy," says Shaw of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation. "Being involved (in the community) is not only a good thing for the organization but a good thing for your business." Goldstone can't help but be involved-asking him to sit still is like asking the sun not to rise. The benefit his community work has on his business is just gravy. "Our online business is growing by the day," Goldstone says. "We often have people working past 9 p.m. and as early as 5 a.m. because of the volume of orders and our commitment to fulfill every order the same weekday it arrives. We are preparing to invest in the newest line of Noritsu digital equipment to help support our growth. And we're starting a new online service for people to store and have 30 Minute Photos Etc. print images directly from their mobile phones." The Irvine store isn't going anywhere either-although much of his business is now online, Goldstone wants to maintain his local touch. And besides, there are still some people coming in with good old-fashioned film. "Before, all I did was make photographic prints-now I'm making photographic prints from so many different areas, from a customer base across the nation, to people using our self-service kiosks, to people dropping off prints," Goldstone said. "Plus, I've become a specialty retailer, an expert in digital. "I don't want to say that the pie got larger," Goldstone said with a smile. "But now, I own a bakery." OCM Gary Goldhammer is a Tustin-based writer. |
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