From Film To Volume: How Alkit Lab Reinvented Itself

What does it take for a family photo lab to thrive across three generations and multiple technology upheavals? We sit down with David Buchbinder of Alkit to trace an unvarnished journey from New York City retail counters to a lean, volume-first lab that ships in three days. Buchbinder walks us through the hard calls: expanding into Kodak-branded stores, then cutting overhead and rebuilding around photo printing workflow

Prints are steady, but specialty items—buttons, magnets, acrylic blocks, framed and mounted prints, canvas wraps—drive bigger carts when studios use modern platforms to reach parents by text and email. Buchbinder explains why Alkit refused to build proprietary software and instead partnered with GotPhoto, PhotoDay, and Captura, keeping focus on color, quality, and fulfillment while ensuring one-stop support. That choice unlocked direct-to-home ordering, faster cycles, and less friction for photographers juggling schools, sports, dance, cheer, and preschool.

Buchbinder also shares a pragmatic take on technology. The lab remains a silver-halide shop on Noritsu lines for quality and throughput, yet stands ready to pivot when the time is right. Meanwhile, the promise stays the same: everything produced in-house in Long Island and shipped withi

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Chapters

• 17:54 [Ad] Smart AI Business & Tax Moves: Think Like Kenner French & VastSolutionsGroup.com
• 18:44 (Cont.) From Film To Volume: How Alkit Lab Reinvented Itself

Transcript

Erin Manning: 0:26

Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society Podcast, the photo imaging industry's leading news source. Here's your host, Gary Pageau.

Gary Pageau: 0:39

Okay. Hello again, and welcome to the Dead Pixels Society Podcast. I'm your host, Gary Pageau , and today we are honored to welcome the legendary David Buchbinder of Alkit to the podcast today. Of course, they're a long-standing photo industry member, gone through a lot of transitions through a family business that's now in his third generation, and they're based in Long Island, New York. Hi, David. How are you today?

David Buchbinder: 1:04

Terrific. Thank you very much for having me, Gary. It is an absolute pleasure. I love you. I've known you for way too long.

Gary Pageau: 1:11

Exactly. Well, we'll hopefully won't get into the history lesson because I do want to talk about what you guys are doing in the current and in the future. But let us talk a little bit about history for the people who may not be familiar with the various evolution that Alkit's gone through because you've you've been almost every kind of business there is through the company's almost, I think, 90 years of history. So can you just briefly share that?

David Buchbinder: 1:34

Yes, yes. So we started back in 1936. It was my grandmother and grandfather Alfred and Kitty, uh hence the name Alkit. And we started in 1936. And my grandfather Alfred ran away from Odessa, Russia when he was 13 years old, didn't speak our land, didn't speak the language, and fast forward a little bit, and he opened up a couple of retail stores in New York City and got our business started. And then, of course, your father became involved in it, right? Then my father, second generation, came into the business and he had big plans, big aspirations. So where my grandfather and grandmother started with retail stores, my my my father saw an opportunity for a professional wholesale type of operation. So he opened up a location on 18th and Park in New York City to cater to the professionals, where he was selling film, selling cameras, and that kind of morphed into buying and selling used equipment, trade-ins, and then professional labs started quite a few years after uh after that. Then my brother came into the business 1987. Okay. And then I came in in 1991. Okay. And that's when the uh the third generation kicked in. And then from there, I guess I came in '91. So we probably had uh six, seven, eight really good years, and then things changed pretty abruptly with the age of digital. Right. So our our where we had all these different businesses, a big part of our business was selling film, and we had a we had a niche, it was selling large format film to fashion photographers, catalog houses, department stores, and that was a big part of a business. And then when we saw digital coming, and digital coming quickly, we had a we had a we had to make a big pivot. And then we decided to expand our retail stores. So where we had one, now we decided we needed other revenue streams to support family members and and our amazing staff. And we opened up a five, they referred to as kick stores, they were the first branded Kodak image center solution stores in Manhattan.

Gary Pageau: 3:56

Right. And that was at the time quite the innovation back then, because if you wanted to have a chain store, you were, you know, primarily a, you know, either a Ritz or a Wolf or maybe a Moto Photo or something like that. But the route really wasn't a big at that era, wasn't a big branded retail chain presence. So that was Kodak's bid to try and bring their idea from Canada, as I recall, was pretty successful in Canada, and they were trying to bring it into the US. And you guys were really one of the independent retailers who got into the program who was really kind of highlighted by Kodak. So you had a really good relationship with Kodak at the time.

David Buchbinder: 4:30

Yeah, at the time we were we were very close with Kodak. They were an outstanding partner. We believed in the in the vision, in the uh, in the branded stores, and then but but we we learned that operating these stores, especially in Manhattan, was quite quite the challenge for us. Going way back when in the I guess late 90s, early 2000s, if we'd have one of our stores with a a 1,000 square foot store, and we were paying between $10,000 to $15,000 in rent alone. Right. Um and then just with the high overhead in Manhattan, we kind of figured we're gonna have to pivot again after after a number of years.

Gary Pageau: 5:13

Right. And that's really, I think, one of the things I think is interesting about your your family business is you know, rather than stay locked into we just you know, we're gonna be this type of business, you kind of go where the customers are, not necessarily where the technology is, right? I mean, you know, I mean, because from like from a technology standpoint, I saw a bunch of people back then in the day when they were, like you said, they were servicing the fashion photographers, so they really went headlong into, you know, maybe trying to sell digital camera backs or something like that. But that's there was no money in that.

David Buchbinder: 5:44

Right, right. And I guess the uh so after several years trying to make the stores profitable, I guess the life lesson that I learned is you need to move on quicker. Meaning we kept the stores open much longer than we should have. Why? Because I believed in myself, I believed in my brothers, and we believed in our people, and we believed that we're just gonna figure it out how to make it profitable, and we just needed some more time. So after putting more and more and more capital into the into the businesses, we realized we we gotta move on and pivot once again. So we we closed closed down all the all the retail stores, and then we were left with our with our main location. So at our main location, we had started doing getting into, we had always been in the printing business. So it all started, we started consumer printing. Now we were growing our professional printing. Right. So we started growing the professional printing. Our niche was wedding bar mitva and portrait photographers, right? So we were building this up, building this up, and we got to a point where now we had a professional lab business that was doing well. The challenge, though, is that we were operating it on 18th Street and Park Avenue South in Manhattan, where the rent is sky high. Right. And we recognized we had to bring our overhead way, way down and we had to do we had to do it very quickly. So we moved to Freeport, Long Island for a fraction of the overhead. And we pretty much now had a model. And in addition to the new model low overhead, we then also now shifted into the volume world. And if we didn't make that pivot from wedding bar mit for wedding bar mit for portrait to the volume world, we wouldn't be having this uh podcast this morning. So there just wasn't enough to sustain us wedding bar mit for portrait.

Gary Pageau: 7:40

Yeah, especially since you know that sort of space, you've seen you know, a lot of decline in the output business for that, right? The wedding business. I'm I mean, I mean, people are still printing from from weddings like these, but certainly not in the in at the at the price they used to, right? You know, I'm in Michigan and typical wedding photographer back in the day could charge three, four thousand dollars, right? And then prints on top of that and a woman all and that all disappeared.

David Buchbinder: 8:05

When we were doing the uh the printing for uh in that market, being where we where we were located in Long Island, the people like to throw very big parties. And then in terms of the four by six proofing, uh, an average proof job proof job was about 1,500 to 2,000 proofs.

Gary Pageau: 8:22

Right.

David Buchbinder: 8:23

That was very good for our company. We were also providing all the cut prints, enlargements, and then and then later on we got into making offering albums. So in our facility in Long Island, we had an album binder where our sp our our expertise was not actually producing albums, our expertise is on individually color correcting and producing beautiful prints. So we had the our album maker was a tenant in our space, they made, they produced the albums, we produced all the prints. We're just always interested in producing the prints. So that was a very good relationship until about three years ago when we decided to exit the uh the album business because, well, number one, we needed the space for our volume work, and then number two, the uh number two, the the album business was just continuing to decline. So we're putting more and more time into it. It was just a declining business, and we were seeing kind of the uh younger generation didn't really want the uh uh the albums anymore.

Gary Pageau: 9:21

So when did you kind of decide that volume was gonna be a market you could tackle in terms? I mean, well, I'm thinking of the time frame, right? When when about was that?

David Buchbinder: 9:32

Yeah, that was that was in the around 2004. So we had so yeah, we had moved to Freeport and we were still doing Wedding Bomb in for Portrait, but we were even out of eight out of our location in New York City, we were starting to grow our volume business, but our workflow, I mean, we had back then we had some machines in the front of our facility, some machines in the back of the facility, some in the middle of our facility. Yet it was just the worst, worst workflow. And I kind of laugh about it now because today, what we've learned is our the volume world, it is so important to have the most efficient, efficient workflow. Photographers, labs, uh our software providers, and we're all linked together, and it's all about all about the workflow.

Gary Pageau: 10:23

So when you were approaching that market, you know, it was very different from consumer, different, very, very, very different from professional wedding photographers. What were some of the conversations you had as a new entrant into the market? As someone, you know, you know, everyone in in in other parts of the industry very much knew your company, but I'm sure the volume people weren't very much as aware of you. What were some of those conversations like?

David Buchbinder: 10:45

Yeah. So in the beginning, speaking to larger volume photographers studios, many people knew of Alkit, because we've been in the industry for so, so long, but really in the beginning, when we were growing the volume, didn't even know we were, you know, involved in the volume. So it was pretty much, you know, I guess just growing a business one one by one. Right. And and then it kind of, you know, uh morphs. But yeah, it was kind of brand brand new for us that that niche. Yeah. Um, and now today I look back and it's just amazing because I just love, love our industry. Um, I'll call it our volume industry because I just love, love our industry, the people, they're just the most some of the most dynamic people, and it's just a privilege for me to be able to work with them and for me to be able to help these amazing people run their business better. Oh my God, what could be more gratifying to me and Steven and our staff? And uh, that's kind of what you know gets me going every day.

Gary Pageau: 11:45

And and the variety of work has changed. I mean, you've got to produce so many more products now in the lab than you used to produce, right? I mean, you used to be like you said, just cut prints, right? That was it. And it's kind of like, there you go. Now you've got how many different products are you guys producing now? Well, it's a great great question, and so interesting.

David Buchbinder: 12:05

Yeah, at the end of the day, we would, if we had it our way, we would just like to produce eight by ten prints and cold a day. But far far, far from that. Now it's all the specialty atoms: the buttons, mirrors, keychains, magnets, acrylic blocks, frame prints, mounted prints, canvas wraps. I can go on and on. So we produce everything in the industry. They're in they're within all of our software platforms, you know, got photo, photo day, captora rows, and everything. Do we love doing producing all those? Not so much. Meaning, uh, but it it's what it's what it's it's what it's what necessary, and uh uh thrilled to be able to do it.

Gary Pageau: 12:46

Well, it is. I mean, it is one of those things where it is where a lot of the studios are seeing is seeing their business growing. I've talked to a few of the independents who had really good Christmas seasons, right? Because they were able to remarket to their customers, hey, you know, it's time for an ornament, it's for grandma, and it's time for gifts and things, which that business didn't really exist prior.

David Buchbinder: 13:06

Yes. So what what what what's interesting is one of the things that myself and our and and and our team, you know, promote to our clients and the industry is the need to offer so much more. And there are still so many studios, high-volume studios, who many just find it easier, just ordering the prints and some and and and some of the specialty items. But now within all the software platforms, the providers are making it so easy for the studios to earn much more money by offering all the products. And now when you're sending out, you know, the your your text blasts and email blasts, and the orders can come straight to a lab and we produce them and within a couple of days send them directly to our photographers' clients, direct to home orders, they don't have to touch it. So they're just getting paid for now offering these canvas prints, mounted prints, and everything else. You don't have to do anything. So that's why I kind of recommend offer everything. The worst that's gonna happen, you're gonna order you're gonna receive orders for things that you never did before, right? And you're not doing anything.

Gary Pageau: 14:07

Let's talk a little bit about the you know the software partner side, right? Because there used to be a time where labs would actually like try and develop their own software interfaces, right? Where maybe if they weren't using rows or they had rows and they had or they tried to have their own uploaders and their own other things. Did you ever go that route or did you always look for partnerships?

David Buchbinder: 14:26

I'm I'm I'm I'm laughing. It's it's it's another amazing question. Wondering if you spoke to Greg and Steven before this. But so the answer is with proprietary software, going back to 2004, where we ish, when we're looking to grow our volume business, I'm I'm on the sales business development side. My brother and partner Steven does the most unbelievable job, and he pr he pretty much does the opposite of what I do, and we kind of kind of stay in each other's lanes in what we try to do. So on sales business development, Steve's pretty much everything else inside operations and and uh does an amazing job. Greg, uh Greg Abris is our technology director. First of all, I I I love him like he's family, he's been with us forever, he's just the most amazing person and incredible at what he does. Back in the early 2000s, when we're looking to grow our business and we're coming across large volume studios who are using other labs that might have a proprietary software. And I've heard that proprietary software, you know, come up quite a bit with other labs. So, well, I wanted to do that too. So I speak to Greg and Steven and said, okay, we need prepared proprietary software so we could sell more. And unequivocally, the answer was no. They pretty much said, That's not our expertise. And I kept asking, asking, and soon I learned 100% that is not our expertise. We are never, ever, ever going to write our own software because that's not what we do best. And we're gonna leave that up to the amazing companies in our industry, God Photo, Photo Day, and Captura. They have a team of engineers, they're doing it all day long. No matter what resources I would ever throw at it, I could never come up with a software that's gonna be near what they do. So we I rely on our amazing partners uh to uh to do that.

Gary Pageau: 16:18

Because I think that's one of the things with digital that's really kind of changed over the time, right? Because people really were, and you and I go back away. So we remember the early days of digital when people in the consumer side in the 90s, people were trying to do vertically integrated, they're trying to do software websites and also their own production, right? That's how Shutterfly started, that's how Snapfish started, where and everyone's kind of figured out now, like you said, it's too much, right? You you can't, it's very difficult to do that now, to be all things all people in all those segments. You really have to be, you know, the best of what you do, and what you guys do is is printing, right? You do you produce great prints. So let's talk about the printing side of it specifically. What platforms do you offer in terms of printing output? You know, is it inkjet? Is it toner base? What what what are you working with?

David Buchbinder: 17:09

Right. We're still we're we're still using what we consider the best quality, which is uh traditional uh uh paper paper and chemistry. So we have all high-speed uh naritsus uh uh in our lab, and our goal is to continue rotting that out, you know, in the in in the in the in the in the years to come. Yeah, that's that's in a that's providing us the very quickest and best workflow so we can get out the work uh very very uh very quickly, and then also offering you know the very highest quality.

Gary Pageau: 18:14

So you're still but you're still a silver halide lab for the most part. Still silver halide lab. Yep. There's sort of this idea that it's inevitable that silver halide is gonna have to go away, be just because of you know the decreasing volume over time. But there's so many people, big labs in Europe and in the US, who are just still committed to silver haline.

David Buchbinder: 18:35

We're we're ready to make the move move when necessary. We don't think it's necessary today. Maybe that's maybe it's gonna be two to three years. Whenever, whenever it is, we'll we'll embrace it and do it. But you know, for now, we're we're still uh still gonna ride.

Gary Pageau: 18:50

And you've also had to put in other, obviously, digital printing because you must be doing some die sub and some other stuff too.

David Buchbinder: 18:55

Well, we're always adding uh uh all uh all different equipment and whatnot to uh yeah.

Gary Pageau: 19:01

Let's talk a little bit about customer interactions, right? Because I think that's one of the things that keep a business like yours going is having tight connections with customers, right? Uh, you know, I know a few of your customers who just swear by you guys they think you're great. And it's because you develop those relationships because it's not just technology and the volume business, it's a handshake business. So let's talk a little bit about you just your company business philosophy. Something's going right or something's going wrong. How are you working with that?

David Buchbinder: 19:28

So, our company philosophy, it just comes down to what we love to do and how we love to treat people. I love the people in our industry and I just want to make life as easy as possible for them. In terms of other labs in our industry, the fact is we have they're amazing labs. We have amazing competitors in our industry, and they're all friends of mine. I'm not going to say anything negative about any of them because they all do a wonderful job. So if anybody chooses to work with another lab, they're they're they're you know, they're gonna treat them very well and and and do great. What our what our our philosophy is, is us being a family business, we try to treat everybody like family. And but it's just just how we, I'm not trying to do anything different, it's just how we are. It's just how you guys are, right? Yeah, it's just and that goes from Stephen and and Greg, it's just and and our entire crew. Steph in our customer support department. She doesn't go to many of the shows or whatever. She's just known in the industry. Everybody loves Steph. She's just a just a wonderful, wonderful person. Those are the type of people that we hire. It's just who we like to be around and enjoy. So that that that's kind of just the the experience. We feel that we're gonna go above and beyond our competitors just because some of our competitors are very, very large labs and very successful. We're we're successful, but we're not gonna be as large as a as a Miller's lab. I mean, oh my oh my god, credit, you know, credit to them. What we try to do is give much better service. So some of the labs might have the client speak directly to God photo. If if there's an issue with an order, we don't do that. Everything comes directly to a Us, we don't say speak to them, everything speaks to us, and we just want to save you time and make things easy so you have more time to sell and and and and and build uh build their businesses.

Gary Pageau: 21:16

So after all these years, what is your perception on like the future of demand for output, right? Because you always hear these things people don't print, people don't print, no one likes print. And on the other hand, people are still printing a whole lot of stuff, they're just printing differently.

David Buchbinder: 21:31

Yeah, so so when I started talking about wedding bar mit for portrait, we saw we saw the changes in that market, and that's why we pivoted, and now we're in volume. Frankly, I I would have thought that in the volume world that the printing would have declined very quickly, and it hasn't. And it's and it's wonderful, and it's still, you know, the truth is it declines slowly each year, and and which is okay. There's just there's still plenty of business to go around, but it's it's uh we're very optimistic going forward in the volume industry that people want the those those prints and all the specialty items to you know that uh that that come along. And then now with digital, again, credit to all the software companies, how it's just so easy to also order the digital files and the download all. And many of our clients feel bad when they say to me, All right, I gotta tell you, we're doing you know, more download all, and and I say, That's great. I want you to, because I want them to have a successful business, and there's still plenty of prints, and it's gotta work for everybody. So I encourage that, you know, to uh you know, to the to the to the industry.

Gary Pageau: 22:39

So one of the things that has has has changed is sort of the uh the the advancement in sports and event as well, as part of the volume business, right? Volume used to just mean schools and different kinds of schools and maybe yearbooks, and now it's really sports, events, and schools. How how how has that grown as a part of your business? The sports and events and cheerleading and all that fun stuff.

David Buchbinder: 23:06

Yeah, so so when we got into volume, we kind of referred to volume as as schools and some sports. And now under the volume umbrella, you have dance, you have gymnastics, you've got seniors, you got undergrad, you got you got preschool. It it it it's so it's just an opportunity for the you know, for you know, for the for the industry.

Gary Pageau: 23:25

Yeah. Because I think when you get into some of those digital platforms, right? Like you mentioned, got photo and people like that, they're making it so much easier for customers to transact than they used to be, right? They don't have to worry about filling out a form and making sure the kid brings it and all the other stuff that has probably inhibited growth over the years.

David Buchbinder: 23:47

Yeah, the so the software companies have done an outstanding job. Again, it seems most of the industry by now has embraced the changes, but there's still always a segment that uh absolutely. And we're, you know, I guess I'm always, you know, because I tell it like it is, and I tell I tell our friends, I said, I'm always gonna give you my recommendation, what I think is gonna be best, you know, for you and your company. You don't have to agree with me, but I'm just gonna, but please understand, I'm gonna tell you what I think is best for your business. And pretty much the majority of the photographers who have not shifted to one of the online companies, uh God Photo Photo de Captori, you kind of need to take a real close look at it now because you're not there today, you're gonna be there tomorrow or the day after.

Gary Pageau: 24:28

Yeah, I still I you know I still when I go to SPAC or events, I still run into people still using paper forms. I just I'm just and I you know I think it makes sense because it is a radical change, right? For a lot of people, but because it is a different way of thinking, and there's you know, obviously it disrupts your operations to make that transition. So I understand that, but as a company yourself who's disrupted your own business a few times to make those transitions, sometimes you have to do that, right?

David Buchbinder: 24:54

For sure, for sure. And again, many of the photographers who are using the paper forms, many of them are in the rural areas, and again, the recommendation is okay, you know, try it, try it on, you know, one or two leagues or schools, and you know, because you're gonna be you're gonna be there and it's it's coming.

Gary Pageau: 25:10

Have you thought about going for other segments? I mean, I know you do a little bit of consumer and still do some professional stuff, but is is is that something you hope to grow as well?

David Buchbinder: 25:19

What no? It's funny where we used to do the consumer printing and we used to do some commercial printing back in 2004, 2005. We had we had we had a partner in our lab for a little bit and they did a whole lot of commercial printing. So we kind of added that to what we were able to offer. And now we don't want to do anything but volume. It kind of was a distraction for us. Yeah, it was a distraction for us. It wasn't our strength. And also, if we're not producing something in our lab, I don't want to offer it. Meaning everything that we do is done in Long Island. And the fact that we uh we we offer the industry a three-day turn, and that's the latest. So everything gets shipped out within three days. Many, many times throughout the year, it's two days, but even during uh fall season, it's always three days. If we have to outsource stuff and get it back, we won't be able to make our three-day turn and and and and it's it doesn't it doesn't work for us.

Gary Pageau: 26:10

So we got a SPAC coming up, and let's talk a little bit about what your activities are there and what you hope to get out of that great event.

David Buchbinder: 26:18

So SPAC is by far my favorite convention of the year. I'm just beyond excited. So uh so I go to SPAC with my brother and partner, Steven and Greg, and also Allison Abrace. Allison is uh is assistant to Greg. So at uh True Family Business, Allison manages our our packaging department in the back. So when all the prints come, they produce all the specialty items, put everything together for the direct the home and batch orders. And so anyway, we'll uh we'll be there for that. I just can't tell you how excited I am because again, they're just the most amazing, smart, motivated, creative people in our industry. And to have you know about 1,500 people at one place, it's just amazing how much I learn each time I go. And things are just changing. I mean, I don't have to tell you at warp speed now. It's the amount of information being thrown and incorporated into everything is is just mind-blowing now.

Gary Pageau: 27:15

And what's amazing to me about SPAC is about 20% of their audience is new every year.

David Buchbinder: 27:21

Yeah, and that's and that's that's a great sign for our industry uh that our industry is doing a great job. You and your podcasts and and and and and the whole SPAC crew, Corey and Calvin and the whole board and uh Matthew Kemet Mule and the whole the whole team, what they what they all do.

Gary Pageau: 27:37

Yeah. It's just interesting because a lot of shows aren't experiencing that kind of new attendee growth, and that's kind of as an exhibitor, that's what you want. I mean, you want to see your old friends, obviously, and reconnect and all that, but you want to see some new faces too.

David Buchbinder: 27:51

We want to see some new faces, and you know that it makes me think about one of our one of our new software providers. So uh Photo Day. We saw how amazing Photo Day was from way back when, and and we were eager to be one of one of their uh supporting labs and and partners. Uh Photo Day, unlike many of the other uh software companies, they kept it tight with the labs and they opened up to about maybe six labs uh up until maybe uh you know four or five months ago. So now we're proud to be one of one of one of their supporting labs for all these years. There was a segment of the volume industry that we could not service. So and and that was frustrating because I'd speak to all these wonderful people and and they're like, when are you gonna be uh uh you know a uh a supporting lab of photo day? I said, I don't know whenever whenever they open up, and and fortunately they decided to open it up and uh and we couldn't be any more excited. And the uh early on, I mean, the the industry seems very, very excited that we're now able to support this uh wonderful platform.

Gary Pageau: 28:52

So, where can people go for more information about AlKit?

David Buchbinder: 28:55

For more information, they can come to our website, Alkit.com. As everybody knows, anybody can call me 247 on my cell. And I can't wait to see everybody at SPAC and all the other workshops and conventions this year.

Gary Pageau: 29:08

Great. Well, David, it's been great talking to you. I appreciate the insights and the stories, and it'll be great to see you in Las Vegas.

David Buchbinder: 29:17

And again, Gary, I want to just tell you I've got the utmost respect for you. You know you know that, and what what what you do for our industry. You're you're absolutely amazing. So thanks for all your contributions and just being here. Thank you. I'm I'm touched. Coming from you, that's high praise. That's what it is that's what it is, Gary. Take care, thanks. Thank you so much. Be well.

Erin Manning: 29:38

Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel Society podcast. Read more great stories and sign up for the newsletter at www.the dead pixels society.com.