It’s the End of an Era – The Sears Portrait Studio is Dead

Modern technology has just killed your right to dress the entire family in hideous matching sweaters, and take awkward photos where you're all staring at a spot slightly off-camera .

Believe it or not, ALL the Sears Portrait Studios just shut down. And that is TRULY the end of an era, folks.

The Sears Portrait Studio opened in 1959. But in the past decade, people have been buying fewer sessions and fewer photos because of digital cameras, phone cameras, and cheap online photo printing.

The company that runs the Sears Portrait Studio at every Sears location is CPI Corp. They also run about 20% of the portrait studios at Walmart and Babies "R" Us and they shut down both of those too.

Sears says they're, quote, "exploring all options" to keep some kind of photo service alive...but for now, it's over.

(Wall Street Journal)

Luckily there's still the great website Awkward Family Photos, which has a TON of the hilarious department store portraits.