TAMPA, Fla. — This year marks seven decades in business for Golden Triangle, a family-run enterprise that's had to change along with the times.

What You Need To Know

  • Golden Triangle is celebrating 70 years in business

  • The business started out as a camera store and one hour photo developer and adapted with the times to offer restoration and digitization of everything from photos and slides to 8 mm film and VHS tapes

  • Golden Triangle was founded by Sam Sellers, Sr., before being taken over by his son, Sam Sellers, Jr. Longtime family friend Kelly Winterling took over last year and represents the third generation of the business.

  • Winterling says it's rewarding to preserve people's memories.

"We've gone from providing supplies and equipment to the local schools and the developing studios to helping lawyers with court cases — we used to blow up a lot of images for lawsuits," said owner Kelly Winterling, who took over the business from Sam Sellers, Jr. last year. "We then developed film for many years. Sam remembers when there used to be a line around the building in the morning for people dropping off their photos, and then in the afternoon, there'd be a line with everybody picking up their photos.

"When times changed with cell phones and digital photos, we had to change to offering more services, like converting the old media and restoring photos."

The business was founded by Sam Sellers, Sr. in 1953 as a camera and supply store. His son, a lifelong friend of Winterling's father, became owner in 1998. Winterling's path to getting involved began after she took a darkroom class while a student at the University of Tampa.

"That's really when I fell in love with photography, and Sam and Golden Triangle sold me my first camera and helped me in the darkroom and learning how to develop film," she said.

But photography wasn't the first stop on Winterling's career path. She started out in senior housing.

"Which I know seems totally not anything to do with this, but that's really, I think, where I got my passion for helping people," Winterling said.

It was there she began interviewing residents about their life stories.

"I really have a passion for putting people's stories behind pictures," she said. "That's where I decided that this is what I really want to do. So, Sam took me under his wing and taught me how to do the restorations and converting old pictures and slides and film."

Golden Triangle moved from its longtime location on Kennedy Boulevard last year to office space on N. Armenia Avenue. Winterling said customers have followed.

"It's kind of a niche service that we offer, and Sam Sellers Jr. and Sr. have built a good reputation of providing quality work over the last 70 years," she said. "I'm just trying to live up to their standards. I'm very thankful to be a part of something that really makes a difference in people's lives.

"I have transferred wedding tapes for people who haven't seen their wedding in over 50 years, and I have done reels for people that haven't seen their grandparents ever because they passed away before they were born. Getting to live out some of those stories now and being able to see them is very rewarding."