It looks like Fujifilm is serious about taking the challenge of fighting a what critics say is a dying industry. When people mentioned in the past about it, it looked more real when other brands closed down like Kodak and the others. They thought of re-imagining things, they thought of your experience inside their stores and made it more attractive than "just the boring film store where you just grab the film and go". At the new and first ever "Wonder Photo Shop" (out of Japan) at UP Town Center they let us take first bite on what seems to be the "new thing" they envisioned for every Fujifilm store in the Southeast Asian Region. It was different, it was appealing, it was young and fresh. All along I thought I was just going to see a photo printing place but this is different, totally.
We were welcomed by Nikita who hosted the event, plus a lot of Fujifilm Philippines and Fujifilm executives and digital influencers (if there's such a word). It's quite nice being in the midst of people who you know actually love photography too. Their Fuji mirrorless cameras are dreamy, add to that the multitude of Instax cameras that were on display too. I don't have one so I couldnf't tell if it's better than my Nikon but that's another story. Anyway, we were absolutely packed and I continued to discover a lot more about the store.
This is a full blown studio on the right corner side of the store. The new Wonder Photo Shop actually encourages you to have your photos taken inside the store. They have some studio grade flashes which you can use to take photos of your family, your friends, or yourself if you want to. They've also got some special friends (you often call them stuffed toys) which you can use to amp up your photo shoot. Then you can print them later inside the store, isn't that neat?
They have very affordable prices and they accommodate square prints so if you've got those really good instagram shots you want to immortalize on your wall, this is the place to do it. They also got photo albums where you can take your family or romantic photos and put them in one book. I'll be going back there specifically for that so please follow @kumagcow on IG and see if it's nice on print.
Oh and did I mention they have crafting corners so you can put those photos into your own scrapbooks and give them as gifts too. I also saw some camera accessories, several instax models including the one of a kind Hello Kitty versions that everybody loves!
My favorite part of their shop is this! It's a kiosk where you can just attach your phone (if it's an iphone) or install an app (if you're on Android) so you can print them in just a few steps. It's affordable too so I went in and printed 2 shots from the GMA Bloggers Style shoot (oh vote for Team KrisJoy please!) and it looked so good given that it's actually just a few files from my phone.
Even Kristoffer and Joyce loved it when I showed it to them in our Viber group. I say, it's something way cool than what I expected from a photo shop right? Aside from that, the convenience was certainly something that I couldn't imagine would come from a mall shop. I think they also would like you to experience it for yourselves, so I'm going to go ahead and ask you to visit them at the UP Town Center and try it out for yourself. Fujifilm doesn't really know if this will work, but from the looks of it... it's way better than the old boring shops we used to go to right?
The first ever Wonder Photo Shop is at the mall of UP Town Center, situated at the back portion of the lot (new building). I'll have my album printed and show you how they do it on video, perhaps very soon. As for the cameras, I have yet to get my hands on a Fujifilm camera, I don't have the mirrorless ones or the Instax yet but I've got tons of the Instax films here. I can't wait to try them out one of these days.
For more information about their products:
Fujifilm Philippines
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