After being founded by George Eastman in 1888, Kodak was the dominant photographic film company in the U.S. throughout the 1900’s. In 1976, Kodak commanded 90 percent of film sales and 85 percent of camera sales in the United States. The company became so well known that “Kodak Moment” became a popular catch phrase for a good photo opportunity.
Kodak began to hit a decline in the late 1990’s because of a decrease in photographic film sales and a poor transition to digital photography, a technology developed by Kodak. However, the company did not seem to understand, or even heed, the potential of the transition to digital photography; by doing this, the company essentially dug its own grave. The market of this new technology, which no longer required film to create high quality images and photographs, took over due to its convenience and advanced capabilities.
The company continued to struggle in the early 2000’s due to disputes between the film and digital division and low profits from their digital cameras. Asian companies began making digital cameras far more cheaply, which, along with the rise in cellphone camera quality, led to Kodak declaring for bankruptcy on January 19th, 2012.
As of 2012, Kodak's employment in Rochester was less than 5,000 people, down from 60,000 in the 1980's. In 1980, total employment in Rochester was 414,000 people. The fact that about 15 percent of Rochester's workforce were Kodak employees in the 1980's says enough about how big the company was, but that underestimates its impact . The amount of people affected by Kodak was far greater. The economy was booming, which helped small businesses, such as restaurants, movie theaters and other forms of entertainment. The city was running on Kodak's success.
Rochester will never be the same as when Kodak was in its prime, but life didn't just come to a halt. The citizens of Rochester had to move on. Todd Sankes was bought out by Kodak and went on to create a dry cleaning business. Walt Collins was a longtime employee at Kodak, and decided to retire after being bought out. They both worked at Kodak while it was thriving, were affected by the downfall, and are great examples of how employees moved on within the city.
We wanted to see not only how Kodak employees have moved on, but how the whole city has moved on. To do that, we contacted some longtime Rochester residents: Duncan Moore and Mark Zupan. They hold their own respective positions at the University of Rochester; Moore is a professor and Zupan is the Dean of the Simon School of Business . They offer a slightly different viewpoint, as public figures who have been around Rochester for years. Moore and Zupan describe how the university was affected by the collapse of Kodak, as well as changes they have seen in the city from Kodak's prime to current day.
We also talked to Jeff Solomon, a local mechanic, who offers the perspective of a small business owner who has served the people of Rochester for decades.
Rochester was Kodak. Everyone was affected by the bankruptcy, and for the most part, everyone has moved forward with their lives. Kodak may be gone, but the city lives on.