“All the machines have been sold to professionals, we can no longer go back”, announced Pascal Grangier on Tuesday, two days before the end of his professional career.
“We were one of the only traditional photo labs in Auvergne. We had one of the best patented machines in the world, which always guaranteed impeccable print quality, ”he distils, with an intact passion.
Founded in 1960 by René Grangier
Despite this, at 64, Pascal Grangier has chosen to end his activity in order to retire. “The store was created in 1960 by my father,” recalls the merchant. René Grangier first set up in rue Molière, then rue des Forges, before moving to boulevard de Courtais 42 years ago.
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“The following year, I took over the business with him, after having resigned from the army where I was a Republican Guard in the Honorary Battalion in Paris, under the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. “
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Enlargements, identity photos, portraits, retouching of old photos, he was the only one until today to do all these activities.
The story of the Photorama store told in 2014 by its creator René Grangier
A new business other than the photo
In the absence of a buyer, the 60-year-old decided to sell his business to another commercial activity.
“For a long time, with my wife, we looked for someone who would like to take over, but Montluçon does not attract people to live there. Finally, we stop earlier than announced to make room for future trade ”, he indicates without revealing which activity will follow.
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As for customers, they will have to do without him now: “The announcement of our closure has generated a lot of reactions from them. In a few days, I received a hundred messages. People are devastated. “
The touching goodbye of a Parisian customer
A Parisian client – who had bought 10,000 euros worth of equipment during the first confinement – came to say goodbye to him last week.
“He made me cry. It is heartwarming to have had so much contact with customers. “
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What is he going to do now? “I love to share my passions. So, I will continue the training in photography. But, it will still be a hell of a drop in activity, of the order of 90%, ”he predicts.
For more than 20 years, Dominique Grangier, who formerly ran the ready-to-wear boutique Lidodi Roma, has been helping her husband at Photorama:
“It’s going to be a little hard to quit like that for me too, but that’s life. We keep countless memories here ”.
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Brian Le Goff
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