After nearly 30 years of running MotoPhoto, owner Sheri Matheson is looking forward to taking a step back from storefront life.
“I’m really sad that I’m going to not see customers,” Matheson told MediaNews Group. “But I’m excited to have the freedom to do things I couldn’t before because I needed to be here. I’m excited to tell my friends, ‘Sure, I’ll be happy to go to Florida with you, or wherever.’”
At the end of January, Matheson will be shuttering the custom photo print shop’s store in Exeter Township and switching to an online-only model.
Sheri Matheson, owner of MotoPhoto, will be retiring and closing the store at 150 Sunset Manor Drive, Exeter Township. She will still offer photo processing services online. (BILL UHRICH/MEDIANEWS GROUP)
The store’s website, motophotoreading.com, will remain operational, but instead of offering in-store pickup, all orders will be shipped to customers’ homes.
“I’m also going to make myself available for projects,” Matheson said, referring to helping customers with photo books or scanning orders if people want photos digitized.
She said she has a few vendors she is using for people who want to digitize items like old reels or videos.
MotoPhoto’s website offers standard photo prints as well other printing formats, from gift staples like mugs, coasters and calendars to decorative wall hangings, collages, and even yard signs.
Matheson said the turnaround time for photo printing will be around two days.
Matheson bought the business in June 1997 and initially operated it in the former Promenade Shopping Center in Exeter.
When the promenade closed about five years ago, she moved to the store’s current location on Sunset Manor Drive.
Operations at that store are now winding down.
“We’re keeping regular hours, but I don’t know for how much longer,” Matheson said.
Matheson said the store would be open regular hours through Jan 24, but after that she wasn’t sure. She said she has a firm departure date of Jan. 31.
Matheson said she has several part-time employees and helpers who will no longer be working with MotoPhoto.
“It’s mostly me (running MotoPhoto) but I do have a part-timer who is going to be doing substitute teaching (instead),” Matheson said. “My other part-timers either have full-time jobs and just help me on the side or are college students who help me when they’re home.”
Matheson said the departure from a physical store feels bittersweet.
“This is such a great business, my customers are awesome,” Matheson said. “I’ve had a lot of people coming in from day one who would come and bring their kids.”
Some of those kids have since grown up and now frequent the store with their own children.
“That’s always been really cool to me,” Matheson said. “Being able to be part of people’s families and feel like they’re part of mine. I’m going to miss that for sure.”
Sheri Matheson, owner of MotoPhoto, will be retiring and closing the store at 150 Sunset Manor Drive, Exeter Township. She will still offer photo processing services online. (BILL UHRICH/MEDIANEWS GROUP)