End of an era in Rotorua for Gould Photographics (+video)

It was a sad Sunday for Chiria, Mark and Greg Gould when Gould Photographics closed its doors for the final time.

The photography store on Tutanekai St served its last customer after more than 60 years serving the Rotorua public in one form or another.

Managing director and Rotorua district councillor Mark Gould said the decision was made in September, after months of looking at different business options.

"It was going to happen at some stage. We looked at other options and none of the others were viable," he said.

Mr Gould said he, brother Greg and their mother, Chiria, 89, had made the decision together.

"We couldn't come up with any other plan. Photos have changed dramatically."

Mr Gould said they had seen huge changes in the photographic business since their father opened the shop years ago, and most recently had been doing a lot of passport photos.

"We went from black and white to coloured slides to prints and then to digital."

He said Rotorua had lost another photo store, but it was a trend overseas to see photography stores closing.

"I'll be working on council issues and working for the community."

He said the rest of the shop's goods would be put on Trade Me for sale in the coming weeks.

Mrs Gould said it was a sad day for her but she was looking forward to putting her feet up. She enjoyed coming into the shop and "making the boys work".

The business goes back to 1955, when David Gould opened Fotocraft on Eruera St, before moving to Tutanekai St in 1982.

One further move to their current location was made in 2000 when the family-owned and operated business needed more space.