Sue Willers has spent 31 years working in one of Te Puke’s pharmacies. Photo / Stuart Whitaker
Sue Willers has spent 31 years working in one of Te Puke’s pharmacies. Photo / Stuart Whitaker
In her 31 years at a Te Puke Pharmacy, Sue Willers has left her print on the town, and the negatives have been few and far between.
Willers will leave Life Pharmacy at the end of this month. She began working there when it was Blacketts Pharmacy, owned by TePuke identities Rob and Mary Alice Blackett.
Willers and her husband John Willers had – and still have - a shared interest in photography, and it wasn’t long into her time working for the Blacketts that she took over the running of the pharmacy’s photo lab.
“We started building a house next door to Rob and Mary Alice and she needed some help with the pharmacy,” she said.
“We had little kiddies so I would just go down and help out [during] school hours and sometimes help with ironing or whatever she needed doing.”
That was short-lived. “It got to be a permanent position, and I went in and ran the photo lab back in the days when it took up half the front of the shop – they were big machines,” Willers said.
One machine developed films, while the other produced prints. Willers’ interest in photography set her in good stead for the work.
“My husband had a home darkroom before we met, and for my School C [School Certificate], Mum and Dad bought me a 126 camera for passing. So I’ve always had an interest and it was a common interest for John and I.”
John Willers was a well-known photographer around Te Puke, photographing school balls, sports teams and weddings, as well as taking portraits, with his wife acting as his assistant.
The Blacketts invested heavily in the equipment, adding the capability to handle the medium format film that John Willers was using.
Sue Willers will end her 31-year career on July 29. Photo / Stuart Whitaker
Sue Willers would load the films, then, when they were processed, hang them to dry before putting them through the printer.
Colour-correcting prints was part of her role.
“In the old days, the colours could alter quite a bit so I’d try and make them look the best they could.”
Her photographic knowledge also helped her make tweaks to composition and centralise subjects where it was possible. “Mondays were always busy in good old [Te Puke] Times days as they’d be in with all their films and want them printed quickly for the paper.”
As a Fujilab photo processing store, Fuji offered training in the use of its machines to ensure the best results and for safe handling of the chemicals needed for the processes.
“You had to know the precautions and the big printer, you had to drain the water baths and scrub out the tanks,” Willers said.
“In the end, that’s why they had to get rid of the neg machine because there wasn’t enough throughput to keep the chemicals at the right level – in the end it wasn’t viable.”
There are still people who remember taking films in, excited to get the prints back in an hour or the next day.
“Some people still say: ‘We wish it was like the old days when we’d bring it in, you’d do it all’.”
The pharmacy still offered self-service photographic printing, although there is now only one kiosk in the shop. It was also possible to order prints to collect online.
“We can do up to eight by 12 enlargement still, anything else people want to order goes away. The printer is now the size of a microwave and uses dry powder, it’s very easy and very reliable,” Willers said. “But as times have changed, more people are using their cellphones and just send photos to people they want to have them.”
With the decline in demand for photographic services came a change in Willers’ role.
“When Rob and Mary Alice sold the business, I started working for [new owner] Sam [Appleford]. Now I do more work in the shop serving in the dispensary counter, but I absolutely love the job.”
Willers has gradually reduced her hours and now only works on Mondays and Tuesdays. She will end her time at the pharmacy on July 29.
“I will miss the staff and will miss the customers I’ve known for year and year and years. It will be a bit weird not coming in here, [I] will miss the faces coming in.”
