Kacey Musgraves just made this tiny Koreatown photo shop famous
It’s not every day that one of the most famous people on the planet walks into your storefront business, and it’s perhaps even rarer that they’d take more than a marginal interest in its health and longevity. Still, that’s what happened to the owner of Tom’s One Hour Photo & Lab in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood when country sensation Kacey Musgraves chose the tiny store for a photo shoot. The business, which specializes in retro-style portrait sessions with backdrops handmade by the owner, won over Musgraves so much that she and her sister, Kelly Christine Sutton, made it an Instagram to boost business, and it seems like it’s sure as hell working.
As she explained onstage in a video posted to Tom’s new Instagram, she and her sister stumbled upon the shop while searching for a place with one-hour photo development. To Musgraves, America is “built on the back of small businesses” so, after hearing that Tom’s was struggling in the digital age, she felt it was important to give back and help him out. She posted a lengthy Instagram caption all about it on her account, raved about him on her now-permanent story highlight, and tasked her sister with updating his shiny new Insta. It was all such good PR that in two days he received over 28,000 followers.
See Musgraves’ post, as well as the gorgeous shots she took at Tom’s, below.
Musgraves even tweeted out a DM from Tom’s son, Nick, who shared how he’ll be forever grateful to the star. He explained again how Tom’s business has been affected by “advancements in technology” in a negative way, “but thanks to [Musgraves] and photography aficionados, we are still alive!”
You can visit the L.A. shop for yourself at 4158 Beverly Boulevard.