Owner of Stait Photography, Hexham to retire and sell stores

Ken Stait, 58, owns Stait Photography which he has run for approximately 40 years.

His dad, Alfie, started the business in Morpeth in 1953. He died in 2008, but the business now has sites in Hexham, Morpeth and Alnwick.

Ken's parents outside Stait Photography in the 1960s (Image: Stait Photography)

Ken opened a branch of the business in Hexham eight years ago when a photography shop in town, Pattison's, closed down and residents were travelling to Ken's Morpeth store.

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"I thought it was a similar market town to Morpeth and the same sort of population and feel about it, so I thought it was worth trying out," he said.

Ken Stait (Image: Stait Photography)

He has now decided to retire and sell the three branches of Stait Photography to The Timpson Group.

"It needs a different organisation with larger resources to take the business forward," Ken said. 

Timpson's will use the brand Max Spielmann, the UK’s leading specialist photo printing service chain with 340 stores across the UK, to provide high-quality photography services to the community.

"Timpson's has got the resources to maintain the business, keep the staff employed and keep the sites going so the towns have still got a photographic shop in them. Unfortunately with costs going up, it needs a business with good resources to be able to carry the business forward." 

He said the community reaction to announcing his retirement news has been 'amazing'.

"Throughout the different towns, I've had well over 300 responses from people who remember their first photographs taken and bringing them in to get developed. It's 70 years of business heritage, we've welcomed a lot of customers through our doors and it's been wonderful to have the response from all of them."

Timpson's will refurbish all Stait Photography branches to give them a fresh update.

Ken said he has plenty of retirement plans, from spending time with his family to getting involved in community organisations.

He added Hexham has sites, such as the former Beales store and the bus station, that could be used to 'transform' the town and encourage more visitors.

"They could be used as a game changer to try and rebalance Hexham's economy. We need to get some good names in the town to get people to visit," Ken said.