When Nick Pacitti and his wife, Carol, started Best Photo in the shopping center at Route 561 and Brace Road in Cherry Hill, back in the mid-1980s, it wasn’t unusual for them to process upwards of 5,000 to 6,000 prints per day.
At one point, they had three locations, Cherry Hill, Evesham and Haddon Township, all of which did a brisk business from dawn till dusk.
“We had people bringing us film to be developed from birthdays, weddings, anniversary parties, vacations and any other occasion you could think of … sometimes 20 and 30 rolls at a time on peak days,” said Nick Pacitti.
To be sure, a lot has changed since then, what with digital photography and an abundance of mobile devices, allowing people to instantly take photos and email them anywhere in the world in seconds.
But one thing hasn’t changed: Nick Pacitti’s passion for photography in all its forms and his undeniable ability to adapt.
“When digital photography really started to take hold about 2005 or so, we noticed a significant drop in business,” he said, “but, as with any business experiencing change, it’s always important to take a step back, make some adjustments and follow your gut instinct and most of all your passion.”
His business is about passion as well as about realizing the American dream.
The only child of Italian immigrants, Pacitti came to the United States at age 13 in the 1960s with his parents from Abruzzi, an agricultural region, two hours northeast of Naples.
He spoke no English at the time, but somehow knew that learning a new language and success eventually would come his way as it had for his grandparents, who migrated to America decades earlier.
The knowledge in electronics and related technologies that Pacitti acquired at what had been RCA Technical Institute in Cherry Hill landed him a job at Film Corporation of America, a Northeast Philadelphia-based photo finishing and processing company that serviced clients nationwide and in Canada.
“Given my training, I initially thought I would go into computers, but happened to see a classified ad in the newspaper one day for a technician at this film processing company. It was the perfect job because it combined my technical skills with my love and passion for photography,” he recalled.
While there he met his wife Carol, who eventually would help him open his own photo finishing business.
In the early years, she did everything in the store from A to Z, while he worked on transitioning from his full-time job at Film Corporation to full- time independent business owner.
“I had never run a business before, so learning all the basics plus getting up to speed on specifics relative to photo processing really put me to the test,” said Carol Pacitti, adding that gaining customer support and confidence was and always will be a top priority.
No one knows more about that customer service than Medford resident Mary Murphy, whose oldest daughter Julia was born in 1985, the same year the Pacittis’ oldest daughter, Angela, was born and the same year Best Photo started.
“I remember taking my Kodak Instamatic film cartridges in to be developed from day one, as well as other formats as technology changed,” said Murphy.
In the years that followed Murphy’s other daughter Erin was born as well as Nick’s other daughter, Michele.
“We’ve been through the whole cycle together, comparing stories on our daughters’ birthdays, graduations, weddings and everything in between,” said Murphy.
“I guess you could say Nick is our family historian and for that matter everyone else’s, too, in that he’s preserved so many memories for so many people through photographs,” she said.
Jean Marie Seal’s history with Pacitti dates back 20 years, when as athletic director for Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly, she would get a collage of photos mounted on a 16-by-20 foam board as a memento for her graduating field hockey seniors.
“Most kids today only know photos by what they see on their iPhones, or on Facebook and Instagram, so for them having something tangible like this that they can hold and have forever is often very special,” said Seal.
Like Seal, other Best Photo customers like Barry and Jean Oehlers, of Haddonfield, and Linda and Michael Newman, of Cherry Hill, understand the value of converting their digital images to prints. The Oehlers regularly print their best vacation pictures, while the Newmans can never seem to print enough of those so-called “Kodak moments,” of their two young grandchildren, Claudio and Mateo.
The stories are many, like the one of retired Cherry Hill pediatric dentist Kurt Bomze, for example.
His many photos taken at the annual Susan B. Koman Race for the Cure have been turned into prints and large poster-size images overnight courtesy of Best Photo.
“Whether it’s the Race for the Cure or other charitable events with which I’ve been involved over the years, Nick’s generosity and spirit of giving back has made a huge difference in the lives of so many people,” said Bomze.
And then there’s Maryann Keneally, of Bellmawr, one of a select few who still prefers to shoot with film, which she buys at Best Photo.
She always has Pacitti make prints from her negatives or slides which she promptly puts into albums for all to enjoy.
The photo business has definitely changed, some arguing for the better. Others, like Debbie Sanfarraro, who has been lab manager at Best Photo for more than 20 years, remain cautiously optimistic.
“Digital photography is great in many respects because you can instantly see what you take and delete any pictures you don’t like. The downside is, that unless you archive your photos by printing them, you’ll never have a permanent record of all those memorable moments for future generations to see and that is a sad reality,” she said.
Sanfarraro said there’s also no guarantee that today’s technology, such as CDs DVDs, smartphones, flash drives and the like will remain viable mediums in the future.
The digital age has caused many photo shops to go out of business, but Nick Pacitti has seized opportunities to build business in related areas.
Standard developing and printing notwithstanding, he offers photo restoration, slide, film and videotape conversion to digital formats, passport photos, mugs, T-Shirts, invitations, badges, banners, poster size printing, plus custom framing.
While the journey hasn’t always been smooth, he takes a philosophical approach, saying anything worthwhile is bound to have some inevitable ups and downs along the way.
“For me, success is all about meeting new challenges head on, always being resourceful and earning the trust of my customers by going the extra mile to be sure that every job I do is picture perfect,” he said.