Illustration by Tabi Walters
A colorful new concept geared toward Gen Z opened in June near the U-M campus in part of the former American Apparel space most recently occupied by the short-lived Latitude eatery.
Potobox offers digital photo booths where customers can select their preferred backgrounds, accessories, plush props, and digital effects, then hand-decorate the printed photo sets with markers. A typical session is $10.
Curtained booths of pink, baby blue, violet, and white line one wall, with another option for a high-angle perspective at the back of the shop. Near the front are arcade games with prizes and a printer for customers’ own cell phone photos.
Similar photo booth businesses have been growing rapidly in South Korea over the last decade, according to Sean Lee, one of four partners in the company. They have four other locations, all in California, but their goal is to open Potobox shops in every state.
Lee says business has been sporadic so far, but he’s confident that the pedestrian-rich location will serve them well once students return for the fall term.
Lee immigrated to the West Coast eight years ago and recently moved to Rochester, where he’s also busy launching four Mochinut doughnut and corn dog franchises in Detroit’s northern suburbs. (A partner’s brother runs the Plymouth Rd. location that opened last fall.)
He says the experiential concept appeals mostly to fifteen- to twenty-five-year-olds, “especially girls,” adding that nights out among friends typically run quite late in South Korea. “But a little bit different in America,” he wryly observes. “After ten or eleven [o’clock], most of them go home and sleep.”
Related: The Importance of Latitude
