[upbeat music] Welcome back to Tasteland. I am your co-host, Francis Zehr. And I'm Daisy Alioto. Uh, and Daisy, who will we be talking to today?
Today, we are talking to Corey Forst. She is the co-founder of Retrospekt, along with her husband, Adam. And Retrospekt is a consumer electronics company that specializes in retro technology.
They both refurbish and restore retro tech and produce some of it. Think, like, VHS machines, Polaroid cameras. Gamemasters. Yeah.
They also sell other people and companies retro tech and adjacent products, like music and film, everything that goes into- They even have-... the camera and the parts... I was looking at their website. Yeah.
They even have, like, old, some old refurbished watches, which I- They have very good taste in watches... thought looked cute. Yeah. I obviously checked that out first. Um, you know, I'm a big fan of Longines. Mm-hmm.
And then there's, like, a really cool Bulova. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, we could ask her more about who specifically curated those, but I was very impressed. Well, I, I actually did, I did my research.
Uh, w- we should probably talk to her about it too, but they- [laughs]... they have, like, a friend.
They're based in Milwaukee, and I think they have a friend who deals in and repairs these watches, but he deals in, like, 20 to $40,000 watches. So these are, like...
It's not really worth my time- His leftovers [laughs]... to sell these. Yeah, the, these, like, 500 to $3,000 watches. Yeah. So you guys could, you know, sell those, like- But that's a great price point.
It's a great- Yeah... entry level for people who are just getting into watches, or maybe if you have, like, a Seiko- Mm-hmm...
um, or you have, like, a placeholder Casio, and you're like, "I kinda want something"- Well- You know, in a slightly different range... I was, when I was looking at the website- Yeah... I've...
Watches are one thing I don't really know much about. Yeah. And I'm happy to not know much about, similar to vinyl. Mm.
Just one thing where I d- I know I don't need to think about buying these things because there's enough things to think about buying already.
Um, but I did find myself tempted by the two Seikos that are currently on there. Well, the Seikos are beautiful. Mm-hmm. If you wanna do a watch episode in the next few months, I have a few people- [laughs]...
that we could bring on. Okay. Um, great way to learn about something. It is a great way to... That's, you know, that's what podcasting's all about. We're, we're always learning [laughs] things. You know what I learned?
I learned a lesson this morning, Francis. I've, I've lived five lifetimes today. First of all, I forgot we're recording, like, a half hour later- Uh-huh... than we usually record.
Well, it's, we're in, we're in the second day of the day, if you follow that, that crazy guy from TikTok. We're in day two of three. Right. Right. Well, [scoffs]
this morning I was bringing my car in to my annual inspection. Mm-hmm. I got pulled over by the police on the way there for my brake light being out, which I was obviously unaware of. Um, but
that, it was a little tense because I didn't realize they were trying to pull me over at first. Oh, no. I thought they were trying to go around me to, like, a call, and I was like, "Why isn't he going around?"
[laughs] So then I pulled back out on the road. They're like, "Why would we pull over you?" They're, like, calling in reinforcements, and then he's like- [laughs] Are you kidding me?... "Is your license suspended?"
And I was like, "No, it's not suspended." I was like, "I didn't know you were pulling me over. I didn't know my brake light was out. I'm on my way to mechanic right now. Like, what do you wanna do?" Um,
and they- He's like, "I wanna ticket you, is what I wanna do." Yeah. Well, they gave me a fix-it ticket. Okay. And I was like... I walked into the mechanic like, "You're not gonna believe this."
Um, but yeah, I've never been pulled over in my life. Like, they went- Yeah...
back to, you know, run my license, and I was like, "They're gonna find that I've literally never been ticketed for speeding, never been ticketed for, like, a non-moving violation."
I've been ticketed for, uh, parking in the wrong area- Mm... and not having my inspection sticker on my car, even though it was up to date.
I've never been ticketed, but I, I, I have been pulled over once, uh, in, I think it was, like, a summer I was home from college, and I was working on my parents' farm.
And one of my jobs was always driving the delivery van, you know, delivering- Yeah... plants and stuff to the local nurseries, which, you know, white Ford van, generic van. Um, I got pulled over once.
I was, I was just driving around in town, and no ticket or anything, I think they just thought I was moving weed. Um- Uh, which I wasn't. The van was empty... yeah.
I'm a little suspicious on whether they were potentially looking for people without ID, or it's close to the end of the month, maybe they're trying to hit, like, a quota. Mm. Um, the whole interaction to me was odd.
Um, and the other thing is I live around the corner from the police station, so I was like- Yeah...
I just wonder if they got up there and, like, also, like, recognized my face 'cause I was like, I walk past the station, like, not even joking- Yeah... every day. Like, I've see every cop in my town.
You know, I've seen- You do your perp walk every day... a million times. And so I was kinda just like, "No, I obviously didn't know you were trying to pull me over because I, I didn't..."
It's like when guys have a bald spot- To me, like, they're invisible... on the back of their head, it's like, how would I know my brake light is out? Yeah. I can't see back there.
[laughs] Um- Anyway, like, obviously super privileged that, whatever. But it was so clearly, like, not a nothing. You know? Mm-hmm. It was so clearly nothing that I was like, whatever.
Um, they took a little while in the car. I was like, maybe they're reading my tweets and laughing at them. [laughs] That's definitely what's happening. What if... That would be... Hmm. That's actually...
If there's, you know how cops have, like, speed guns? Yeah. Yeah, and they can scan the speed. What if... Maybe this is already a thing, like, um, phone guns where as they can, like, you know,
point the scanner at you, and it, like, recognizes your, your digital footprint and, and, like, pulls up your Twitter account. Oh, I can't do that right now. [sighs] Um, no, I mean, just Google me. It's coming.
Coming next year. I don't know what to tell you. Thanks to, uh, Palantir. Um, yeah, I mean, we already have that capability. It's just, you know, they have to have a reason to zero in on you. Mm. And, um,
got a lot of powerful people that are interested in expanding those reasons right now.We don't have to go into all that today We don't have to go into that. Um But I've made my opinions clear.
One thing, before we start recording and before our guest gets here, you had an idea I wanted to hear you talk about. Yeah.
I've been percolating on this idea about defaulting to the classics, and I was like, am I just getting old? But I've seen a few tweets to this effect recently.
One person said they were sort of attributing it to people craving normalcy. Mm-hmm.
But, you know, there's been some writing so far about people really wanting to opt out of microtrends, and I've never really been a participant, um, from a fashion perspective. Mm-hmm.
Most of my wardrobe is from, like, J. Crew, LA Apparel, Quince, and I don't shop at Quince to dupe designer stuff. Mm-hmm. I, I shop to get cheap basics. Um, but I noticed especially with restaurants recently, like,
people are upset that they took away the, um, the street dining around Fanelli, and- Yeah... I'm just- Well, everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. Well, I just have no interest in fighting to get into a trendy spot. Yeah.
And it goes beyond reservation culture. I'll make a reservation at a non-trendy spot. 'Cause this is something we spoke a lot about with, with Ben Leventhal when he was on an episode.
Yeah, I mean, I had two coffees at St. Ambrose- Mm-hmm... last week. The second one didn't happen because my friend had to fly home unexpectedly, but it's like if somebody asks me, "Where do you wanna go?" I'm just like,
"Any of these places that are just, like, post post being trendy." Mm-hmm. And not, like, the moments where they've been, like, TikTok rediscovered. I'm talking, like, Balthazar, Waverly, and St. Ambrose.
A decent place where you can get a seat, most importantly, where you don't have to wait for more than... Like, ideally you don't have to wait at all, but, like, if it's beyond- Yeah... a 15-minute wait, it's a cut.
Also, Corey is here, so let's not- Okay... let her, make her wait for 15 minutes. Yeah. I'm interested, uh, what the Milwaukee equivalent of Balthazar is. [upbeat music] Hi. Hello. Hello. Okay, this wins- Hi...
the best backdrop award. Nobody has- [laughs]... come onto this podcast with a better backdrop than, um, a shelf of...
I, I'm guessing, like, is this a mixture of vintage and contemporary, or are these all the contemporary collabs? It's a mixture, yeah. Yeah. It's Polaroid. Polaroid cameras.
But they did a lot of advertising, promotional stuff in the '80s and '90s, and we've kind of carried that on until now. So yeah, it's definitely a mixture. It looks amazing.
I noticed, um, I watched your interview on the Waveform Podcast, uh, yesterday, and I noticed on the shelf behind y'all in that one was the copy book, uh, which was, is literally in my field of vision right here.
Um- Nice... so that was a nice little synchronicity moment. Yeah, yeah. That's the next desk over. That's- Just over [laughs]... Michael's desk, our creative director.
We got this, like, old AV setup from someone who wanted to get rid of it, and so he gives that cool backdrop, which is... It, it, it works. It's, uh, has a VCR and TV all hooked up, and sometimes we play things on it.
So- Nice... mine's c- mine's cool too. [laughs] Very cool. Where is your office? Uh, we're in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yep, we've been here for 10 years.
Bounced around different buildings and locations, but now we occupy about a 15,000 square foot warehouse and workshop, um, and we have some off-site storage as well. Is there an interesting history to the building?
You know, I think from what I know from the landlord, it used to be a Frigidaire commercial- Mm-hmm... showrooms, uh, and storage and factory.
There's nothing too special about it, but I think some refrigerators used to be here. Yeah. Well, I'm sure there's somebody out there that collects refrigerators, like- Yeah. [laughs]...
Polaroid cameras, but, like, much fewer people. That sounds expensive and bulky. [laughs] Much harder to do refurbished, uh, refrigerator e-com than it is to do- Yeah. Yeah, right... refurbished [laughs] camera e-com.
My dream is to get the... I feel like it's a Dolce & Gabbana Smeg. Oh. Do you know what I'm talking about? I didn't know they... No, I don't, but I will look it up after this. I think they also did- It's hilarious...
a Bialetti. Now I feel like I need to look, but- Nice. Yeah, Smeg collabs. That's amazing. Yeah. That's what it was. Bit, bit out of my price point, but maybe- Yeah. [laughs]...
maybe there's a Dolce & Gabbana Polaroid camera- Oh... in our future. We got... This one right here is our Fendi one. We did a small one with Fendi- Oh, wow... which was really fun. It's hydro-dipped.
Um, that was done in Italy, and then we built them all here in Milwaukee. So that was just a short little stunt. I think they bought, like, 1,000 or something, so- Mm-hmm...
they sold it, sold it for- Did the Lacoste one as well? Yes. We did Lacoste ones right here. Um, so yeah. We did a couple, like, luxury brands. Oh, an Alma one.
Like, often they, often they just want them for- It's a pink one? Yeah, for brand activations and, um, yeah. I don't know. That one was crazy.
We made quite a few Lacoste cameras, thousands, and they were shipped all over the world. It was a big logistical orchestration to get them out to the various stores.
Like, their Lacoste India, like, bought, like, six, and then another one bought, like, 1,000. So- Mm-hmm... yeah, a bit interesting. You guys do a lot of these collaborations now.
Uh, when did, when did that kind of start happening? You know, that started maybe in 2019 with Barbie being our very first one- Mm-hmm...
which ended up being a great one for the future of the Barbie movie, which was, I think, at the time, like, in the works and, um- Mm-hmm... not something we knew would be so prolific to culture and society.
Uh, the summer of the Barbie movie we sold a lot of Barbie cameras, so, um, yeah, we, my husband, Adam- Was it the same design and you just made more of the 2019 one? Um, we have done two Barbie cameras. Mm-hmm.
We did one that was a kind of a direct riff on the one Polaroid did with Barbie in the '90s. Mm-hmm. Um, we wanted to bring that one to life again, and then we did a Malibu Barbie one.
So, um, yeah, we, my husband, Adam, we own the business together, one year decided to go to the licensing expo in Las Vegas, and we just carried a Polaroid camera around with us [laughs] and-That's where we met Sanrio for the first time and have now worked with them for years, and we're opened up to this whole world of brand licensing.
And currently, no one else is doing it on retro tech or retro-inspired electronics, so we've kind of carved out our niche in that area. Mm-hmm. Um- Yeah. We were gonna ask, like, what is your, what is your moat?
And it seems like just understanding the licensing opportunity early and being able to pair it with knowledge of the supply chain of- Yeah... this specific device is, like, a huge part of that. Yes. Yeah.
It's been pivotal to getting our brand in front of audiences that might not have ever found us and, and scaling too. You know, you can only source and refurbish so many vintage electronics.
Granted, we always try to focus on products that were mass-produced, like- Mm-hmm... the Polaroid cameras were mass-produced, Sony walkmans mass-produced.
It allows us more l- leverage to source a lot and use, you know, kind of cannibalize certain ones and build, uh, you know, combine the parts to make working ones and fix certainly what we can.
But we don't injection mold new parts for everything. Some, some things we've invested in the tooling to injection mold new cosmetic parts, but you're kind of limited when it comes to cosmetics.
So yes, the licensing has allowed us to make new products, like a new cassette player- Mm-hmm... a new 35 millimeter camera.
They're simplistic, but really meeting a demand for a part of the market of people that just want to experience cassettes mostly for the first time. Mm-hmm. How do young people find you?
Um, I assume, like, older people who actually owned these things at one point in time probably sit in front of Google at some point and just look for a way to buy it.
But for people who, like, younger, I would say, like, you know, Gen Z that did not grow up firsthand, like, watching VHS tapes or, you know, experiencing even, like, the early iPod Shuffle- Yeah...
and early, like, uh, designs for those, like, how are they finding you? I think Google and SEO has been, I wouldn't say easy, it's not. SEO's never easy, and it's always a changing ball game.
But, you know, if someone searches refurbished iPod, we're about... Google knows that we're the ones that have that, and it shows up pretty high in the shopping results. Yeah, I think, I think Google has been favorable.
Like, we, we, we actually shut off, like, our paid ads for certain things because, like, we don't really need to compete to get the spot for, like, Jurassic Park on VHS. Mm-hmm. Like, that'll just show up if we'll...
if wants to have it, or eBay and Etsy are our competitors, truly are kind of just the resale platforms. Mm-hmm.
So, um, when you guys started, I think I read on the website it was around 2010 you started doing this more seriously after, um, like, y-you, you and, you and Adam had been into Polaroids and, and taking Polaroids, and it was kind of cheaper to buy old cameras at thrift stores that might have a few shots left in them than it was to buy 40, $30 worth of film- Yes...
on eBay. So that's kind of how you start. Um, when does it become a business where you, you know, you hire your first employee or employees? Like, what, what year was that?
How many years had you been doing it, and what kind of volume were you moving at that point? Yes. So we filed our LLC in 2015, so this summer will be our 10-year anniversary- Mm-hmm... which is just bonkers.
It, it felt, feels like it was just yesterday, and it's very different. The business now is very different than it was then. At that point, it was...
we were just all wrapped up in the Polaroid world and the, and the story of, like, the end of Polaroid Corporation, the start of The Impossible Project, which is the company that retook over the manufacturing of Polaroid instant film and brought it back to the consumer market, is...
we're linked up with that story. So we were previously supplying The Impossible Project, Adam and I just by ourselves as two people going to grad school, [chuckles] uh, raw cameras that we would thrift and find.
We would sell directly to them. They would kit it with their new film that they were making and sell it.
And then a few years into that, they approached us to see if we would be willing to provide them the refurbished goods, because previously they were refurbishing them themselves with a group in, uh, New York and a group in Enschede in the Netherlands, and wanted to see if they could cut that part of their business out.
They were starting to manufacture their own first new Polaroid instant camera and wanted to kind of outsource the vintage refurbishing.
And at this point, I was in my last year of grad school, Adam was working his first year post-grad school, and we had to decide [chuckles] if we wanted to do this for a career.
And obviously we did and haven't looked back. But, um, so 2015, we needed to build a team. They were sending over, um, an original Polaroid tech that had been with the company since the '70s to train us- Wow...
in repairs and refurbishing, and it was very obvious that... Or Adam and I had a conversation of, like, this knowledge transfer can't just happen to us. We're gonna be stunted. We need a team.
So we, we put out some pull tab flyers around the local universities. And actually, our longest standing employee, Brian, he's our head of repairs now, he was such a serendipitous find. He had...
He came to the company with, uh, camera repair knowledge. Mm-hmm. And he, he saw the pull tab and yeah, he's been with us for 10 years.
So we were trained in how to repair and refurbish Polaroid instant cameras from the '70s, '80s and '90s, and did that for Polaroid for many years.
Uh, and then the way that kind of ends and transitions is they eventually just gave us the license to use their branding on these cameras, which is kind of funny because a lot of them are vintage, just as they were in the '80s and '90s.
But- Mm-hmm... you know, we're putting Polaroid back on the packaging and making new ones as well, so we pay a royalty for all of that. And now they kind of stay in their corner. They're making the film.
They have amazing new Polaroid cameras. But we still kind of serve the market of people who want the vintage ones.
What did you study in grad school?I went to school for speech language pathology, and Adam went for occupational therapy, so it's very much health sciences. Um, it's funny to think about. I,
I think it has served my career well in the sense that there's a lot of statistics. They really drill being evidence-based. So when we started the company, we had, like...
and we still do, just so many spreadsheets tracking everything for productivity, efficiency, yield loss, and I think that's... You know, I get asked a lot, like,
if [laughs] there's any crossover, and I would say that's where it is. There's... Going to school for anything, I think, just drills in you the tenaciousness and the persistence and getting things done. So yeah.
Uh, that's me trying to not have too [laughs] much regret about that. I feel like also having a startup or a small business sort of makes you, like, a lifelong student- Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, absolutely...
of the processes that you have to set up, and so I feel like I- I'm constantly learning and evolving- Yes... in my life. 100%. Yeah. Uh, how many, how many people are you now? 40. 40. Which is wild.
Um, so most of the 40, if not all, maybe there's a handful that are part-time, but are full-time. So that's, like, spanning some of the roles of the repair technicians, refurb technicians, pick and pack.
We do all the fulfillment here. Customer service is all done here. The photography for the website. We have thousands of items. Every single one gets photographed for the website. Um, marketing, product development.
So there's a lot of different roles, but we all work here in the same building together, which makes it really nice actually for, honestly, the customer service and fulfillment, all of it happening in the same building creates a lot of efficiencies.
So you've got... You've, you've moved beyond photography now, m- far beyond Polaroids. Looking at the website, the categories are- Mm-hmm...
music, Polaroid, photography, VHS, gaming, typewriters, timekeeping, books, apparel, repairs, collabs- [laughs]... and lastly, the little sales section.
Um, but I'm curious when you started adding these other categories a- Yeah, the- And in what order.
I'm laughing 'cause the, the menu is an ongoing internal [laughs] conversation of like, you know- Polaroid and photography are separated... UX. Right. Yes. And there used to be, uh...
Our creative director made me get rid of it. There was an a- no, there was a and more section, and, like, oddities, and we had this, a section for tchotchkes, 'cause there's just truly, like, there's too many categories.
But to your point, yeah, we sell a lot of different things. Um, that took off right before... I- I'm linking it to, like, right before the pandemic started- Mm. So 2019. Sony Walkmans was our next jump.
There was a lot of crossover. There's a lot of crossover with m- mass-produced things in the '80s and '90s, the way their printed circuit boards work, the motors inside of them.
So it was, it was pretty natural to start working on them, and Brian, our head of repairs, kind of took that process on. Can we do this?
Can we source a lot of Walkmans and, um, refurbish them in a way that makes them workable again? And with Walkmans, most of them, if they haven't been serviced, they won't work, just because of the bands inside of them.
The rubber bands dry out. So, um, we do far more extensive repairs than just that. But, um, that was our next little jump into a new category. And then, and then COVID happened.
So we didn't even have a e-commerce website until 2018 or 2019. Oh. And I'm s- I'm so grateful for the timing, because COVID made it essential for us to have, like, a space in the e-commerce retail world. How were...
Where were you selling stuff then? We were selling directly to Polaroid still at that point. Oh. Hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So all of our... It was... Actually, we often, like, kind of look fondly back.
It was, like, the most simplistic version of our business is very, like, they had...
We had contract manufacturing agreements of how many of these vintage cameras we would provide them, and then we would provide them every month. The cashflow is very obvious and cut and dry.
Um, so simultaneously with us gaining the Polaroid license and now being on our own to sell these vintage Polaroid cameras came, you know, we want more things than just Polaroid cameras on our own e-com website. Mm-hmm.
Have you run into, um... As you've... Like, more things have sort of aged into being vintage, how will, like...
How do, like, right to repair laws or the lack of right to repair laws, like, impact your ability to sort of, like, move into, like- Mm-hmm... early 2000s and, like- Yeah... newer stuff from Apple? Yeah.
You know, I think it's, there is a gray area there, but I think on principle, most people deep down, like, believe it's important to keep these things around, and is retrospect really impacting, like, Apple's sale.
Like, no one's choosing a refurbished iPod over, like, an iPhone or something. Mm.
We actually had, like, Sony contacted us to buy a bunch of refurbished Walkmans, which I thought was, like, a good, a good sign that, like, we're okay operating in this space.
From the repair perspective, though, eventually we will age out, like, of the ability to work on these things as even Apple and the iPad, iPods had some pr- I mean, the software is all, or the hardware is proprietary.
We are able to put in new battery storage and memory, but, um, there's a limitation, especially as electronics and circuit boards get smaller.
Like, working on an old circuit board, you can do that with a soldering iron, but, um, new circuit boards are, unless you have, like, really high-end equipment, it's not something you can easily work on.
So there's, there's an, probably an end to it, but so far that hasn't felt limiting yet. Are you ever contacted by people in the entertainment industry about supplying props? Yes. Yeah.
We work with, I think is it ACME in New York. They buy a lot from us.
Yeah, we get a lot of, um, panicked calls of s- somehow, like, some set needs something overnighted, you know, immediately, and they're willing to pay an arm and a leg to do it, and yeah, definitely the prop, the prop element, it's not like a-Part of our business that we're...
I don't know. It's not like a... Yeah. But yes, absolutely, people contact us for props. What's the biggest movie that you've seen one of your, uh, props in? Oh, that's funny. I- I'm not sure.
I would have to ask our customer service team. They handle a lot of that. I'm thinking, um, one time, just by happenstance, we saw... We make new wired headphones with Koss Corporation.
So they're here in Milwaukee as well. They're right down the road from us. Mm. Very kind of serendipitous.
So we decided to go in together to make, like, a metal band, orange foam cushion, wired headphone, and I saw them in a Gucci ad, and I- [laughs]...
they, they scrubbed out our, uh, logo, which is okay, but, um, so yeah, I definitely see our stuff pop up here and there. Stranger Things. Every time Stranger Things comes out or has a season, we really pop off.
The, the Walkman that was featured- Mm... last, uh, season wa- and the Kate- Oh, that, like, Kate Bush moment? Yes, and the Kate- Yeah... Bush tape. It's kind of funny. I recently- How many years ago was that now?
Too long. I- it, uh, several, right? Like, how did... Why is it taking so long? At least three or four. I think it will come out this year, but yeah- Yeah. It's...
That, that Walkman we were able to find, and the headphones, too. They're, like, really obscure, like Nova 45 headphones that she wore, and so we had the Kate Bush tape, the headphones, and the Walkman that we made.
That was, like, our first TikTok or something, and got, like- Mm...
a gazillion views, and everyone wanted to buy it, and I think we ended up selling the Kate Bush cassette tape for, like, 100 bucks on our site, which is just really silly. Wow. It's just one of those things that
people wanted. And they- Supply and demand, baby. I guess so [laughs], yeah. The, the headphones on your website, when I, when I sorted by most popular, they were the... They're the most popular product, right?
Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah.
I think we k- we just hit that at the right time, and it was just very lucky that Koss is right down the road, and we've become friends with, um, their family, multi-generational owned company, and, um, it was just a really good fit.
Do you have a favorite collaboration? Here's a really silly one. I was just looking at the shelf ahead of the call. We did one, uh, maybe favorite isn't the right word, but it's unexpected and quirky.
We did a very short run. Do you know the brand Grillo's Pickles? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah [laughs]. We made a pickle camera. Oh, I love it. Uh, and it was, like, one of those things where they do a lot of...
Th- their marketing and promotional work- Yeah... is really good. They're, they're good at it. For a pickle company, it's really fun and unexpected. And, um, I was talking with the owner, and, "Let's make a camera."
I think we made 100, and they sold out, like, immediately. It was really fun. I li- I like those moments where it, it feels almost one of a kind, and y- if you, if you want it, you gotta buy it quick. Mm-hmm.
Um, I wanted to talk more about going back to the, the more, like, 2000s era tech. I know you started selling digicams, I think- Mm-hmm... in 2023. Mm-hmm. Um, th- which is, personally, I... That's not
a trend I saw coming. I'm, I'm not really interested in... Like, I've got my film camera, and I've got my iPhone. Yeah. And I don't need, like, the third thing in between. Yes.
Um, but yeah, tell us about your, your business in digicams. Yeah. That was... Yeah, we're always trying stuff.
There's probably products very deep on the site that, like, were flashes in the pan that just never stuck, and the digicams was something we wanted to try. I don't know. I think probably some Kardashian or Jenner.
Like, it was, like, some, some celebrity moment that all of a sudden made them relevant. What I will say, like, I also don't shoot on one. It's not what I gravitate towards. The memory cards are really small.
It's clunky to get the photos off. But, um, it's something about the flash, the way the flash on those cameras work. Yeah... like, in, like, night or, like, party settings.
It's just not something I've seen replicated elsewhere. It's very of the times. It reminds me of my, you know, teenage years. Yeah. So I think that's what people are drawn to. Facebook albums with- Yeah... 300 photos.
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. I'm a little older than Francis, so I'm thir- I just turned 34, and I was, like... Mid-college is when it s- things switched from digital cameras to people getting iPhones- Mm-hmm...
and taking photos on them.
And I still remember, like, you would go to a party, and you would have your little, like, Vera Bradley wristlet or Coach wristlet or whatever with a digital camera in it, upload them the next day, give the album a stupid name, um.
And I actually still have mine. It's in, like, a little Vera Bradley pouch in my, like- I love that... my, sort of my bedroom junk drawer. I have the kitchen junk drawer- [laughs]...
and the bedroom junk drawer, as one does. Um, but I have not tried to turn it on in years. So you're inspiring me to maybe go see what's on there. Yeah. Yeah. We're the same age and same experience. I love that.
I haven't thought too much about that, but truly uploading every single version of every photo from the night, and here, here you go, Facebook. [laughs] You get it all. Yeah. The rush to untag. [laughs] Yeah. Yes.
Tag or untag. [laughs] The, the... Yeah. The management of that was intense. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Um, I wanted, I wanna theorize a little bit, though, about, like, what could be, you know, 20, 30 years from now, the vintage of today.
I was trying to think about this because, like, yeah, there's the right to repair issue, and, like, you're wearing the, uh, AirPod Maxes right now. Mm-hmm. I'm sure those are...
Like, you know, if Apple isn't still producing, like, whatever the latest version of that is in 20, 30 years, I'm sure there are gonna be teenagers who are, like, scouring eBay or whatever exists then for those.
Or, like, I don't know. I, I, uh, was trying to think what else.
Like, this, this micro- this Shure microphone I'm using, maybe that or some of the, like, fancier keyboards that are, like, you know, your niche mechanical keyboards that are being produced today- Right...
which are, like, already kind of facsimiles of a vintage thing. Or, like, um, Teenage Engineering products. Maybe some tablets. I don't know.
Uh, but I was curious what both of you thought might be, like, the vintage of 20 years from now from tech today. My gut is to say if it's tied to [door squeaking] fashion in some way. I think so.
I like to-Remind people that, like, when the Sony Walkman came out, like, that was the first time that music was portable and private. Private just meaning you'd be on a bus and, like, listen to it alone.
And before that, that wasn't an option to take your music on the go. And I feel like that, like, sparked a moment of, like, we wear our technology, and it is wrapped up in fashion.
I think that's really well exemplified in this whole Y2K resurgence of... I'm sure you've seen the videos, or even trying to replicate it.
Like, it's silly, but, like, wearing the iPod Shuffle as a hair clip or, you know, like, headphones can be... They're, they're tied to fashion, too.
So I, I think, like, headphones are a good contender for that because, um, I think part of, like, being into retro stuff is just the aesthetic of it in general. So, um, yeah, that's my, my go-to.
I could see headphones absolutely. I follow Wired It Girls on Instagram, which is, like, a, a page glorifying photos of celebs and, like, regular people wearing wired headphones. I've been reposted by them before.
Um, I lost my AirPods. Well, I left them at my friend's house actually, like, a really long time ago now, maybe six months, and I still haven't picked them up.
And so I reverted back to my wired headphones, and it did feel a little bit like coming home after a long trip. Yeah. Right. Um, because... And I was like, "This is great.
I don't have to charge them," but then I remembered, like, the walking around your house part and the falling out of your ears part. Um, but I don't think that we've hit peak BlackBerry resurgence. Mm-hmm.
Um, I never had a BlackBerry the first time, but I feel like I would love to have one. Yeah. You can get, like- Yeah... an iPhone attachment that's, like, a case with a BlackBerry keyboard, I think.
Yeah, I've seen those. I've seen a couple of those. Yeah. That sounds- That's funny... really clunky, though. Mm. I want the all-in-one experience. The real, the real deal. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I was also...
When I was thinking about this too, like, I guess I can't think of much, like...
Like, I think there used to be more exciting new hardware, and hardware was a thing, and now it's all, like, software and subscription software.
And even with, like, the, the, the vintage, the iPods that y'all sell- Mm-hmm... like, I don't know.
Like, I used to own a bunch of music, and I probably still have my hard drive somewhere with, like, 500 gigabytes of, of music on it. But can you even, like, u- like, with a... If you have Apple Music maybe, can you,
you know, whatever the, the, the songs in the cloud, do you know if you're able to put those on an iPod? Yes, yes. iTunes still exists. We have a tutorial on our site- [laughs]... because it's a common question.
[laughs] I feel like one of them, like, the iPod, one of the iPods, they, like, it doesn't work on that one anymore, but- Huh... we just don't sell that model.
But yes, you can, you can do it, and iTunes still exists somewhere.
Um, I, I still have my original iPod, and I feel like the, the way to experience an iPod is, like, hooked up to one of those, like, Bose, like, sound systems. It just, like, lives there as, like, part of the room.
And I have some scrolling through- It has to be, like, a little crunchy, right? Yeah, yeah. [laughs] And, and I, I guess of the times, like, a lot of the music was [laughs] maybe stolen or, like, given to you- Mm...
from a CD that a friend who knows where they got it. So you have, like, really obscure versions of a song or, like, there's some- something not quite right about certain tracks of a song.
Or you just have, like, 10 versions of the same song. I love that. I think that's really fun.
I a- actually, there's one song I found on my iPod that I could not find on YouTube anywhere from a, one notable band, and I was like, [clicks tongue] "Maybe I'll be the one to upload it."
I think, yeah, there's obviously a huge love for lost media.
There's a really active lost media subReddit, and people who have these memories or, you know, things that they're trying to hunt down their white whales for sound, songs, shows, commercials, and yeah, I, I, I also have too many interests.
I would love to, like, if I had time to be part of the archival work, but [clicks tongue] not at this stage in my life. We've talked about this on the podcast before where, um, [clicks tongue]
Spotify, like, turns every album into basically, like, an evolving archive, and we have artists who, like, change the album art post-release. Charli XCX- Yeah... changed all her album art- Charli XCX is the- Right...
major example. Yeah. But, like, that includes, like, pulling off songs or versions of songs. Um, and it relies on people archiving them somewhere.
Um, it makes it feel like anything connected to the internet can't necessarily be relied on to be maintained. Um- Yeah. I agree. So I think,
you know, people aging into that understanding where they're like, you know, younger people are having their first experience of losing a piece of media that they sort of saw as permanent- Yeah...
also is driving people back to having these, like, really tangible experiences. Um, and I saw that you have, like, the A Thousand Chairs book behind you with- Oh, yeah... I think, I think that's the Verner Panton chair.
I'm not 100% sure. But I was wondering, like, are you into, uh,
other eras of design and categories of design, and how do you see the relationship between, like, a Polaroid and an Eames chair, and the type of person that's gonna collect, like, and have really, like,
um, a really emotional relationship to the things that they collect? Yeah. Yeah, I think most people that I know that are into retro tech are also into design, and I think, like, a good ex- like Dieter Rams, for example.
Like, you get, like, you read a book about him. You see what his house looks like. You see, like, this kind of, like, futuristic tech stuff, like, in someone's home, and it just, it goes together really well.
I've always been interested in design. I, I love the postmodern stuff right now, which is now, like, really trendy.
I, my, I have a one-year-old baby, and I made his nursery, like, very, like, colorful, playful, like, postmodern, and that was really fun.
Um, yeah, I think there's a lot of crossover with, um, tech design, the way, uh, the physical form, function, design of the objects were, like, mirrored to that period in time.
Have you ever been to-The website, um, it's this woman... Or no, it's a group of people. The, the Consumer Aesthetics Research Center website. Yeah. Yeah, they... where they coin phrases.
Like, I feel, I feel like that's a really good example of how it just permeates. I was kind of looking at the... Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. No, no, please.
I was looking at the Global Village Coffeehouse wiki over the weekend, um, 'cause I was thinking just about the way Starbucks used to look, and- Yeah... that whole thing. And, um, they even...
I didn't notice till I went to the wiki, they actually had a list of songs that are, like, affiliated with- Huh... this aesthetic. Like- Oh, I love that... um, Desert Rose by Sting, and, like, Wilson Phillips.
And I was like, "Oh, I love all of these songs." Rusted Root, Send Me On My Way. [laughs] Um, it- Love it... really did feel like time traveling to even- Yeah... put on one of those songs and think about
what that aesthetic was like. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I love the work they're doing of just, like, defi- helping define these design trends and give it a name. Mm-hmm.
I was, I was gonna ask if there's a particular era of, of tech, like a decade or, like, a few years that's the easiest for you guys to repair, maybe because it's like there's the most volume of those products out there, or it's just the, the, the construction of it is so- Mm...
amenable to that. But yeah, if there's a particular era that's- Yeah... so easy to repair. Late '80s into the '90s.
Um, Polar- these Polaroid cameras, for example, despite these are all the same, like, exterior shells, but they had lots of different versions, but all of the internals were the same, and they're very modular.
And that was clearly, I'm sure, a cost choice, but also, like, incredibly easy to then work on them. You can just swap parts.
Another thing common to that era is using snap-fit, uh, construction of a object rather than screws. So, like, I, I can't... I just shouldn't do it on camera 'cause I'll embarrass myself. But, like, I- [laughs]...
the- you could take this apart. Like, you can't see where it comes apart, but, like, starting right here where there's little holes, you could take this apart in less than a minute down to the base components.
So part of, like, what makes them easy to work on is how easy are they to take apart and put back together. Um, and that's very, that was very much a thing. They, they were designed to be serviced.
Polaroid in the '80s and '90s had a refurbishment service where you could send your camera in, they would fix it or just swap internal components and, and send it back to you.
Um, and I think that's really beautiful, of course. Like, we... On paper, like, that is the way I think we all wish things were, where you could send... Like, if these broke, I could send them to Apple.
It, it used to be that way. [laughs] And get them back. Get mine, get mine back, and, like, not have to sell them, I don't know, to someone who does who knows what with them on eBay. So yeah.
I'm imagining a, you know, like how in, like, a war movie or something they'll be like the, the, the person will, like, break down the gun instantly and that's part of... I'm imagining you- Yeah...
like, the final test for all your employees, like, break this down in one minute- Yeah... put it back together. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, we had, we had a- We have timed competitions.
[laughs] I, I feel like we c- conceptually had the idea to, to do it, um, could you do it blindfolded? Oh, wow. Do that at the party once. Um- [laughs]... and yeah, I mean, they could. It was amazing.
I think a Polaroid Olympics would be very cool. [laughs] Do you have a dream, uh, collaborate, collaboration or partnership that's sort of like your white whale? I think there's a couple.
I, I would love to do something with Nintendo, although they just- Mm... don't collab too much. Um, Pokémon, I think it'd be so fun to do a Pokémon camera.
We've made it, like, kind of far into the process, but they're pretty picky about their collabs. Um... You refurbish Game Boys, right? We do, yeah. Um, we, we kind of have our foot in that space.
There's a lot of people doing it, and doing it well, and, like, doing really fun things like modding them and, like, changing the button colors or even manufacturing new shells. And I think right now there...
it's a little oversaturated. It's funny, like, it's a niche thing, and it's oversatur- oversaturated, so we don't do too much. And Nintendo can be a little litigious.
Like, I, I don't think they're going after these small companies putting on new backlit screens. Like, I just, I think it's, like, counterintuitive to how people think about the legacy of these brands.
I think it's, like, bad luck to go after people doing that, especially on a small scale.
So yeah, we do, we do Nintendo Game Boys, a few N64s, kind of the stuff we all grew up with and love, and if we come across it, we, we fix them up.
Seems like the supply chain for Polaroid parts is the n- is the most narrow of the products that you deal in. Is that accurate? You know, they made, I don't know, they made millions of them. Yeah.
There's so many out there.
So we have two full-time purchasers that just scour the internet and work with various direct sellers who are finding them at estate sales, thrift stores, out and about, and it hasn't yet gotten more difficult to find them.
Hmm. Yeah, you know, there's just millions. There's actually, um... We worked with a guy before things changed in Russia. There's a ton of Polaroid cameras in Russia. Mm.
There was a factory there, and I think, like, the timing of how their economy in the '80s and early '90s worked, that, like, none of their, uh, citizens could afford them.
So there's just, like, a ton of Polaroid cameras in Russia that we were able to source for a while. Not anymore. Um- Like, in really good condition too? Yes. Yep. Yeah. Exactly. And, uh, my...
I once came across a storage locker that was like... I dream about it. Like, these are the things...
I, I love thrifting and going to estate sales, and just once in 10 years, there was, like, a storage locker just filled with dead stock Polaroid cameras, and that was a very lucky find. [laughs] It's amazing.
What other oddities have you bought in bulk or stumbled on? I think you told me when we talked that you just bought a big pallet of VHS tapes.Uh, correction, 40 pallets [laughs] of VHS. Oh. Oh, my God. Wait, how...
Okay, so what- how many tapes is in one pallet? So based on the math of the weight of the pallet, I think about 1,000. So yeah, 40,000 VHS tapes. Jesus. And the price justified buying them.
Now we're getting into the territory... But they don't, we don't have space for it here, so it's at an off-site facility where we pay pallet, per pallet fees to store it.
So, like, there's, like, kind of a, there's a runway to this where it starts to, like [laughs] go in the wrong direction of being a really silly purchase, but, um, I- it's...
VHS and audio cassette tapes are my kind of little passion projects right now, where if- Yes... I have a chunk of an hour, I'll just sit and refurbish them, rewind them- Yeah... clean mold off of them, re-case them.
Um, so yeah, VHS. I think VHS... And back to the question about, like, what it, what might see a resurgence, I do really think DVDs will come back. I think there's a- Really? I just think, um, it doesn't feel sexy yet.
Like, I... You know, you go to Goodwill and you see a wall of DVDs, and it's just like, eh, it just doesn't do it for me yet. Like, I get excited when I see VHS.
But, um, I think there's something to be said about the ease of it, especially... So I have kids now. The ownership. The ownership, the modularness of it. Like, it exists, it's just the DVD.
The fun, like, the whole, like, thing about, like, the intro screens on DVDs- Yeah... and how that is, like, such a piece, a time piece that, that really hallmarks that period.
Like, I can think of, like, the Harry Potter one, like, how it looked and- Mm-hmm... there's extras and- Shrek... Shrek. Shrek, exactly what I was thinking. Shrek. Shrek's such a good example as well.
Um, so the, that, that experience. And, like, now that I have small kids that, you know, we try to limit screen time,
but, uh, y- the idea of just, like, popping something in and, like, nothing auto-plays after it, or, like, my child doesn't have to, as they get older, navigate the internet or some, like, internet interface or subscription or...
You know, I think that's, I think that's gonna flip and be really alluring. There's a product called the YotoPlayer. Um, I don't know if either of you are involved in
young children's lives at this point in your life, but, um, it's like a riff on a cassette player. So there's, like, little cards that you stick into a machine, and it reads you the story or plays you the song. Ah.
Um, and they're really popular. Uh, and I think that's, like, a good sign of media like that getting- Mm-hmm... a resurgence. I've seen those advertised and been really curious about them.
It sort of reminds me of Hit Clips. Yeah. Did you have those? [laughs] I didn't have a Hit Clip, but that was... How silly. It's, like, 30 seconds of a song. Yeah. Right? It was, like, the whole thing. Not, not... Yeah.
But I think, like, at the time, like, that still represented more immediate access to a song than anything- Yeah... else that was available. I mean, it was such a brief window. Yeah. Yeah.
Um, did you ever sell Hit Clips? I bid an embarrassingly high number on a lot of them on eBay, and I didn't win. Someone bought them. Darn. Uh, yeah. I don't know. I would love to talk to that person. Someone wants them.
Yeah. [laughs] What's your, um, personally, most personally prized piece of old tech that you've collected over the years? Huh. I love a lot of the original Polaroid, um, engineering models, like the classic 600 camera.
They're clear. They're clear. Oh, wow. And they don't, they don't work because you need light protection, protection from light for these to work. Sensitively. So... Yes.
Um, this was, like, lightly, like, crazy if you tried to take a picture, but the purpose [laughs] of them was to demonstrate how the internal... Like, it's a...
All of these analog things are like little Rube Goldberg machines. Like, the spring does that lever and turns on this. Yeah. And to, to kind of watch it in action. And by the way, I just love clear technology, too.
That's why we made our first cassette player clear. Just like, that's such a vibe and hallmark of an era. Um, and then...
And we have some early prototype cameras that just feel one of a kind and rare, and I just love Polaroid history. And so that feels special to me. Yeah. The, that reminds me, I think I read that, maybe it was in Germany.
I'm gonna get some details of this wrong for anybody listening who's like, "That's just so wrong." Uh, but I think it was in Germany that they are making it so, uh, car manufacturers can't just have the screens anymore.
Like, you have to actually... Like, you can have the screen, but you have to also have the knobs and- Mm-hmm... and, and bits. Like, when, when you said Rube Goldberg machine- Mm-hmm... I was thinking of that.
How like- Yeah... I think there's definitely... And may- maybe there will be, like, a resurgence in clear tech, too. Well, there is that, that company Nothing. You guys know Nothing? What do they make? They do...
They started with, like, earbuds, and th- they have a phone. I think the third version of it has come out. But it's all, like, these, like, clear- Right, yeah...
constructions, so you can see what's working inside, which- Mm-hmm... seems like the same kind of thing of, like, the- Yeah... you know, a, a return to a DVD over streaming or something. It's like you want the tactility.
You want, you want the thing that, like, you know, is in the world that you're interacting with- Yeah... and you can- Right... you feel like you can understand it. Right.
Like, these objects are large for a reason, to, like, let's see all the- Mm-hmm... guts inside making it work. The, the clear electronics history is so interesting, too. It's, it's actually rooted in prisons.
Uh, prisons- Wow... um, need, needed or allowed clear electronics in to prevent, like, contraband coming in through electronics. Like, people would hide stuff in it. So, like, clear...
We have a, we have a clear, uh, uh, CRTV here, CRT TV here that, um, has, like, the inmate's name, like, engraved into it. So a lot of clear electronics actually, like, originated from prisons, is kind of just wild.
Had no idea. That's fascinating. Well, I know that there's, like, categories of things that we don't necessarily think about technology who have become more software-based.
Like, I'm thinking, like, a Peloton-Or some of those early sort of startups to have, like, digital art frames- Mm-hmm...
where things that people traditionally didn't deal with obsolescence are dealing with obsolescence, and I think that's part of, like, the pendulum swing back as well when we're talking about, ooh, what technology of this period will people fetishize?
It's like, okay- Mm-hmm... will being able to, like, refurbish a Peloton be, like, a skill set that people will be after? Um, and then cars, as Francis mentioned. Yeah.
Like, this idea that, like, oh, the hardware of your car could be fine, but the software could be broken.
And all of a sudden, this object that you think of as mechanical and distinct from a computer, it's the computer part that breaks first, and if nobody knows how to fix it, nobody knows how to fix it.
Yeah, I think, thinking of cars too, I think it was last year, like, I think it was Subaru that had the last vehicle with a CD player in it, and they announced recently that that's no longer going to be the case.
So this might not be totally accurate or it might be coming soon, but pretty soon there will be no vehicle manufactured with a CD player in it, which I think is- It makes sense, right? But- My mom still has- Strange...
all of her CDs. I mean, car CDs, that was a whole thing. Yeah, I remember- Yeah... 'cause they would like...
You know, ideally you would have, like, the, the portfolio of them, but sometimes they would enter the car- In the plastic... in the plastic case, and then they would be everywhere, and then they would crack and- Yeah...
you know, everyone remembers like- They're all in the wrong case... seeing one slide out- Yeah, yeah... from under the seat. The two-pack swap 'em for- Yeah. Yeah. Right. Wrong case, 100%. And yeah, just under the seat.
[laughs] Um, or they would be in, like, the center console, like, just shoved in there. S- Mm-hmm... smushed together. They smell so bad- Yeah, I was looking at-... after a couple years. Yeah.
But they, you know, usually still play. I- Mm-hmm...
I think we all have the memory, too, and this is true of cassette mixtapes too, of, like, if you have, like, a certain mixtape so ingrained in your head, 'cause you listened to it so many times, you, you pair unrelated songs, like, in that order.
Like, sometimes I'll still hear a song and, like, I can, like, hear a playlist that I had that whatever song would play next. So it's- Mm. There's a lot of memory built into that. Yeah.
I had, like, a, a summer camp cabin mix CD that had, like, Celebrate You and that New Radicals, like, Wake Up, Kids, We've Got the Dreamer's Disease, like, back to back. And I think I've mistakenly- They go together...
just thought those were on the same album. Yeah. During- They forever go together in your mind. I also have, like, a very distinct memory of the, um, Now This CD that I owned- Mm...
and I recently tried to figure out what number it was. It's, like, 9 or 13. Impossible. There's, there's infinite.
And it's just like, I look at it now and I'm like, "I can't even believe that these songs were released in the same period of time." Mm.
Because some of them are still certified classics, and some of them, like, nobody talks about. Yeah. Yeah. Um- Yeah, that's a great point... like, the, the camera question.
I, when I was preparing for this last night, I was thinking about the Pentax 17- Mm-hmm... which was the first, as I understand it, first new film camera from a major brand in, like, 20 years- Mm-hmm...
that came out last year. Yeah. Um, and I was curious if y'all sold it. I looked it up. I couldn't find it on your website, but I was curious, um, what that has meant to you and how you guys think about that.
I, I think they're lucky to have done it first. I think it's, it was very smart of them.
There's some really cool videos of the designers and creators, like, talking about it when it was coming to be, uh, in the design phase and not yet manufactured. And I think it's great. I... The more, the merrier.
I always feel that way, um, especially in a niche. Uh, we don't sell it probably because often margins on things like that are not amazing. Too low. Um, and yeah, I, like, I just looked it up.
B&H is selling it for- It's $500, right? Yep, 500 bucks, which actually is not, not absurd. Um, but I think like, yes, in, on principle, Retrospekt is all about, like, retro, actually vintage and retro adjacent items.
I think it would be a good fit for our site. I'm guessing, um, yeah, either we, our purchasers just decided the margins weren't there, or we can, you know, with cash flow buy s- buy something else, um, in full.
Usually there's minimum order quantity we use to make a better- Yeah... profit on something else. Well, there's also, like, like I, I looked it up. I was like, "Oh, that's cool." But I don't...
Like, to me, part of the appeal is, like, finding the old thing and, like- Mm-hmm... having it and knowing that, like, you know, when it, when it breaks, maybe I... Like, I've got a Konica Big Mini- Mm-hmm...
to p- uh, film point and shoot, and it's like, I've already had to get a second one because it broke, and it's like I can get another one.
But, like, the, the idea that someday I won't be able to get, you know, the 10th one in 20 years- Right... after they've all broken is, like, kind of appealing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It, it meets a need, though.
There, there are a lot of people in this world who don't like secondhand or used things- Yeah... and that's okay too.
So to me, as long as more people are shooting on film and creating a demand for the film itself, which film's not going to go away. I feel like there's enough players still manufacturing it that it's pro...
Like, it's smart to be the last one standing making film. But to me- Yeah... yeah, the more, the merrier. It's kind of like the printer and the ink situation. Like, you need [laughs] you need the film.
That, truthfully, that's what worried us about Polaroid, like if something happened or if Polaroid film truly, once again, was no longer available.
This was more of a concern in the early days when the company was more, the, the company that took over the Polaroid manufacturing.
Um, yeah, it's one of those things where if you don't have film, you can't use the cameras, and suddenly they're all defunct again. Mm-hmm.
I just got, uh, my latest film photos back last night, and it was like, it's such an exciting event now where I've only been doing it for...
I did it in high school, and then I only started doing it again, like, three, two or three years ago. Um-But I don't know, it's such a like...
It's such an event, and it's funny, that's the only thing I post to Instagram now, to grid, is like every like two or three months I'll do a carousel of like, like, you know, 'cause I, I only end up bringing in...
I don't shoot that much. Mm-hmm. So like every couple months I'll bring it in. Um, and it's, it's special. I don't know. Yeah. It was, it was a nice time. There's a, there's a huge thrill to opening- Yeah...
the film and remembering what happened. Yeah, I have also struggled to shoot through a roll of film faster than a couple of months, and it, it's, it actually is a nice span of time to let them sit. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
You talked about how you weren't necessarily expecting to scale beyond just supplying Polaroid pre-COVID. Um, obviously you've scaled the business a lot since then in like a relatively short amount of time, so...
Or I guess it's sort of the second half of the business's existence. So what's next in terms of scale? Like, is there a point at which you're like, "I don't wanna be bigger than this"?
I think right now there's a lot going on just in the world that is kind of putting some of our plans on pause until we're more sure of what's going to happen. Mm-hmm.
We do get a lot of, like the last standing, or one of the last standing cassette player manufacturers is in China, so, uh, trying to figure out how to navigate that, um, with tariffs. But, um,
I think right now, yeah, we're at a s- we're, we're... Our breadth is so wide that I'd like to just sort of clean up the processes.
Like, we have a really good efficient system for refurbishing, repairing Polaroid cameras with minimal yield loss. It's, it's... We're... With Sony Walkmans, we're kind of at this
jumping off point where we either need to invest in tooling for like cosmetic housings or potentially some more motors to be able to scale that.
Um, so I kinda wanna like clean up what we're already doing and do all of it well. Or like, like we were talking about the Game Boys. That's a very small portion of our website right now.
Like, how can we always keep inventory in stock? [drilling machine] Um, iPods are something that we eventually just sell completely out of and then have to like do another, uh, drop of them. Typewriters, similar thing.
There's more days than not we're sold out of typewriters. So just trying to like, uh, clean up how much inventory we have of all the different product categories.
And then in terms of a dream project, I really wanna make a VCR.
I w- it's now been 10 years since there's been a, a new commercially available VCR on the market, and I feel like s- I'm sure someone's gonna beat us to it if we don't. It's, it's just, it's a personal interest.
It's going to be expensive. We've talked to some people. There's like a few components inside that there's just no one manufacturing anymore, specifically the drum.
So figuring out if we wanna do that, because I feel like that is a huge void, like this thing that's regaining popularity, you can't even get a new player to play them. So I feel like there's opportunity there.
Um, but that would be a huge undertaking, probably multi-year project. Uh, yeah. And, and then who knows? I mean, I'm, I'm often surprised at what we stumble into next, and, uh, a lot of other partnerships with,
uh, music labels. Like I, I was personally proud of, um, Neutral Milk Hotel and "The Aeroplane Over the Sea" was never put out on cassette, despite coming out in late '90s. Um, and so we worked with Merge to...
We asked like, "Hey, can we like, if we buy enough, can we put this on cassette?" And Merge, the label that owns it, uh, yeah, they were agreeable to it, and we sold them out super quick, and that was really fun.
Like, that felt cool, like putting, putting an album that should've been on cassette back on cassette again. Projects like that. That's so cool. Yeah. I love that. Well, that seems like a good stopping point, right?
Perfect place to end it. [laughs] All right. Thank you so much for coming on. Oh, absolutely. It was really fun chatting with you guys. Yeah. So people can go find your website at retrospect.com with a K. Yes, with a K.
That's, you know, the SEO decision that was proudly made [laughs] 10 years ago. And then we're on Instagram too.
We're always posting weird, weird stuff that we find, and if you just like looking at old retro tech, it's a good place to find that. Perfect. Thank you for coming on. And listeners, we will see you next week.
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