Couples and groups of friends mill around the cramped store, talking, laughing and picking backdrops for their photos. These ubiquitous stores have almost completely taken the place of the dollar photo-booths of yesteryear. Today's teen-agers are a powerful consumer force. And with growing financial freedom from their parents, they often choose to spend money on luxury items such as photo portraits. And by the looks of those lines in local Photomania stores, Las Vegas teens are doing their part in adding to the spending total.
Most teens opt to get the pictures with a group of friends, or with a girlfriend or boyfriend.
In addition, many couples choose to get photos taken before a school dance at these stores, because the prints are inexpensive, and can be purchased in quantity. McGown agrees, saying that trading pictures is always fun. These small wallet-sized pictures appear in the wallets and lockers of most high school and junior high students. Many teens are repeat customers. When seeing the Photomania pictures for the first time, many adults comment on the hazy lighting, poor focus and cheap, glossy prints.