As I was growing up, back in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, in the far end of the parking lot of the shopping mall , you’d see a little booth with a drive-through window. A lone employee would be inside (I always wondered how he/she takes restroom breaks). There you would drop off your photographic film for overnight development. So instead of taking your film to the drug store, you could just drop it off at one of these kiosks without having to leave your car.
According to Wikipedia, the film was developed and prints made on-site. I always assumed that the film was sent off to a lab somewhere and then re-delivered to the Fotomat location. It was convenient and I remember in the ’80s how I was in the backseat of that Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme when Mom would drop off film for developing.
With the advent of digital photography, eventually Fotomat went extinct. I hope someday that many big, evil companies like Pfizer and Bayer-Monsanto will someday go extinct and their products never used again.
