MUSKEGON, Mich. — Friday night Radium Photo celebrated its 110 year anniversary with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Another generation of the family is now involved and they say the secret is to constantly evolve.
"Our business kind of started off more doing portraits and selling frames and retail and then we just kind of developed into what we are now with being a professional printing lab for photographers and businesses and doing a lot of school pictures and photos in the area," says Charlie Cihak Junior.
His dad started working at Radium Photo in 1964.
"I was a sophomore in high school and I told my Dad I really need a car and he said I know how you can get one," says Cihak Senior.
His family's photoshop first opened its doors in Muskegon back in 1909.
"Whenever things were tough - and there are always ups and downs in a small business - but whenever we had a downturn I would think back and think, 'you know my grandpa got through the Great Depression and kept the company open so there was nothing that was going to stop me'," says Cihak Senior.
He says his work ethic comes from his Dad.
"That man was still working for me at 85 years old, 40 hours a week doing all the book work longhand," he says.
He says the biggest change in the business came in the 80s with the switch to digital.
"The thing about digital and I had been in this business for years and I'm sure a lot of the people that were associated had no idea digital would take off as quickly, we knew it was coming...but you woke up the next day and it was here," says Cihak.
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