Gap in Main Street's Smile Widens

Midtown Photo, which has been a staple on Main Street Middletown for over a decade is scheduled to close with in the next few weeks, according to employees. Staff has been trimmed to the bare minimum and merchandise is marked to sell. Midtown photo was one of the last great  photo labs in the state to process artistic style prints and genuine black and white photo processing. At Midtown one could get results that you just could not achieve from drug-store photo processing.

I remember a year ago almost to the week I was in the store and where there was always hustle and bustle about. A constant line formed  at the counter where people like myself awaited advice from the many knowledgeable staff such as long time manager and esteemed professional photographer Matt Kabel; also a Middletown resident. Many years ago I took a class at Adult Ed in Middletown taught by Kabel and I remember his sometimes biting honesty; few classes have I enjoyed and learned so much! Midtown Photo survived the transition from manual to advanced autofocus, the Polaroid craze, right through the onslaught of digital photography accompanied with do-it-yourself computer retouching. Alas, the recession has done in another of Middletown's great stomping grounds, and will be sorely missed.