JC Penny Portraits Studio

Our pictures came out beautifully! The lovely ladies did a wonderful job capturing them and offering good poses. We became a member which is good for 2 years. So I’m excited! Thank you girls SOOO MUCH.

WARNING. Avoid this place.
1. Unprofessional photographers. I came expecting at least some good photos to be taken that I could frame up. They were all either not centered properly, bad angle, poor focus, blurred.
2. Wait time is LONG
3. They rush you through the session.
It may be cheap, but I’d rather pay more for a better trained photographer if you want good pictures. I feel like throwing away all the photos taken here. What a waste of money and time!
Also, it has been 1 month, and my soft copy photos have not yet been emailed to me. I have called 3 times, left messages each time for the manager, when the person who picked up the phone said they didn’t know what to do. I have even gone there in person to ask for my photos, but they always seemed clueless. They gave me a customer service number 1800−95-SMILE which was basically full of advertisements and nobody ever picks it up.

The photographer was very sweet and patience with my 5-​year old. She also got very good shoots. I was happy with her service. It was worth the cost of the Group-​on FOR SURE!!! I think the girls name was Christina. The only reason I’m giving 4 stars and not 5 is because I made my appointment for 7:00pm on a Monday (last appointment) and I still had to wait at least 30 mins. Other then that, I’m pretty happy and had a good experience.

Made an appointment and you still have to wait! They only give themselves 15 minutes per customer so they get behind very easily. They rushed us on our pictures because they had 4 families waiting! Very expensive! Would highly recommend going anywhere but here for your family photos! Worst customer service for family photos I have ever experienced.

like evryone else ive heard different stories and mixed feelings about this portrait studio. But i decided to try it this past 4^th of july. I called thinking they might be closed like everything else. but to my suprise they were open and booked me an appt. that day to take my daughters 3 month photos (she turned 3 months on that day so thats awesome) i was about 10 mins late but they still took the photos the wait before wasnt too bad about half hour. but the photgrapher made it worth it! she was super sweet and works really well with babies. i chose the $ 100 package and she applied a 40% coupon for me so i only paid $ 60! Great deal for some great pics!

Heard a few warnings about this place regarding the punctuality of appointments and excessive wait times past your appointment. However, i had many coupons ive gathered through freebie sampler packages ive received over the months from various locations ive opened a registry or baby account with, so i decided to go ahead with it anyway.
My friend took maternity photos a few weeks before i did and ran into the same problem: waiting hours past her appointment time and told me to avoid if possible, and if not then to schedule during a weekday when the volume of customers are cut down by half. Unfortunately, id already book for a saturday afternoon, since my boyfriend is busy mon-​fri during business hours because of his job.
We showed up for our appointment (6÷21÷14) about 5 – 10 minutes early, and were promptly greeted by the three ladies on shift. There seemed to have been only one family there who just finished with their shoot and were picking out poses. I guess we got super lucky, because we were not rushed during our shoot (no waiting customers after us), nor did we have to wait ourselves.
Kerry was my photographer, and was very, very helpful! She provided me with a maternity outfit and had tons of ideas for cute poses. She was also very chatty throughout the session, easing away any awkwardness or discomfort. Even though the actual studio space was limited and it got hot really quick, kerry successfully shot dozens of poses for us in a fair amount of time, so we werent stuck in there for very long. After our shoot, kerry did minor editing and created some collages for us to look at.
Jessica helped us choose a package that best fit the amount of photos we wanted and gave us the best deal for our combination of coupons. Our grand total came out to be $ 100, but was cut down to $ 44.53 with the coupons and discounts. Yaaaaayy! !
Overall, i guess we got lucky that day. My experience far exceeded my expectations, and both KERRY and JESSICA were wonderful to work with! Thanks ladies:)

The employees were acting like they were taking photos for free.
The customer service is horrible in the weekends. If they cannot handle the customer load, why are they booking so many appointments. The photographers are expressing that they are overworked and too busy in the weekends to the customers. Customers do not need that information.
Customers deserve respect and decent service. Their goal was to look at the clock whenever a customer arrived and kick them out if they are few minutes late.
We waited for more than one hour. Photos taken were below satisfaction. Don’t fall for their coupons or Groupons.

Horrible wait times even if you take an appointment. Mediocre photo quality. Save your time and money elsewhere

Really bad customer service here.
Better to go somewhere else for good service and for workers who actually like and do their jobs

I gave this place a try because my go to photographer was booked and needed pictures for the holidays.
I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with their staff, Angel my photographer was nice and bonded great with my son, made him laugh and above all took fantastic pictures. My only complaint the session was only 30 minutes and i felt rushed.
I recommend being the last appointment of the day on a weekday. AVOID weekends…
ALSO, look for coupons otherwise you will spend a lot of money…

I bought a groupon and decided to give this place a try. I was skeptic at first since most reviews about JC Penny Portrait Studios have been pretty bad. My family and I had an amazing time though. Although we were about 15 minutes late to our 6:30pm appointment, our photographer Kerry was super nice about it. Definitely book her if you can! I was scared my parents weren’t going to like being here but Kerry made them comfortable and got them to enjoy their time. Although this place technically closes at 7pm, she stayed and made sure everything we wanted was finalized till 7:45pm.
I recommend booking the last appointment of the day so you wouldn’t have to rush because of others after you. I would book online if you can’t reach their phone.
All in all, we were very satisfied with our experience!

These photographers are amazing! I wish I can give 10 stars, but Unilocal only allows 5. The manager, Susan does an amazing job and I would be disappointed if the studio ran without her. I’ve been a long time member of jcp portraits and I feel this studio has improved by a large margin compared to the previous managers. Her team is highly professional, and captures my families memories. I highly recommend coming on a weekday, because the waiting on the weekends are high due to crying children, not the photographers.

I had Alicia as my photographer for my college graduation pics. I had tons of great shots to choose from, she was very flexible, patient and helpful! She even told me about the $ 25 Groupon offer I didn’t know about. I saved about $ 106 at the session and couldn’t be happier with the results. Highly recommend!
And it terms of appointment time, I was the first appointment of the day on a Tuesday morning, so we started right on time and I was out in about 20 minutes. Like other reviewers, get the earliest appointment you can so you’re not rushed and kept waiting

I needed a place to get my College graduation pics done and I didn’t have enough time to find many options. I called Thursday and the women over the phone was really nice and helpful so i had made an appointment for Sunday at 12:20. I arrived and the place was a madhouse. I got there on time but didn’t get to take my pictures till 1:10. Nearly an hour wait. Insane! I overheard a women use a Groupon coupon so i quickly logged on and bought the same one. When i went in to take my pictures I told the girl if I could use it, she asked when I bought it and i said oh right now. She then quickly said im sorry You can’t buy it while you’re here its for the next appointment time. I told her I should be entitled to use it since i waited over an hour past my appointment time. She hesitated at first but made the acception. I think a good move. She did politely state next time it needs to be known about the coupon ahead of time. The girl who took my pictures was really nice and patient. I thought the pictures were ok. I do photography as a hobby so i might be a bit bias. It got the job done so its ok for now. I don’t think i’ll go back though.

We had an appointment at 1:40 and waited for 1hr20min past, and they still weren’t ready for us. This was a Groupon purchase, but that is why we schedule the «appointment» so there would not be crazy wait time. They should have staggered the appointments appropriately, or call the customers if they anticipate a long wait time due to the response. Instead they just let everyone come in and then expect everyone to be there for 3 – 4 hours for the pictures. We did not even get to do the pictures and had to reschedule to a week day instead, as we were unable to wait another hour. To be fair, i don’t believe this was the staff’s fault, but i believe the management should have prepared everyone better for the Groupon deal. If you have the Groupon deal, make sure to call and check what their «real» appointment time is, and the expected wait time.

They are quite professional and were quick to fix an problem that I had with my son’s christening cards. Apparently they lost them ! Even though my son’s Christening was ruined as these were special pics they made up for it.
In any case they reimbursed me and offered me a $ 50 Gift Certificate for my inconvenience. I doubt that we’ll ever be there again though!

I would highly recommend being the 1^st appointment of the day – if possible. The wait is usually LONG and there are a lot of young children and parents and babies and it takes forever. They mentioned that during the weekends they book 2 appointments for every 10 minute time slot – that is ridiculous.
The pictures are average, nothing spectacular but they do give you the bang for your buck. We printed coupons online and were able to order 8X10 for only $ 3.99 a piece. You should almost have an idea of how you want to be positioned, because they only place you in the approximate position and usually they won’t mention if your hand is too stiff or if your body is angled awkwardly. They don’t catch those small details and it may irk you, especially if you are into photography. However, going in, knowing what you want and having a general idea of how to pose will help you a great deal.
The main negative I have for this place — the ridiculous long wait. One year we waited almost 2 hours and they didn’t mention anything of the sort like «thank you for waiting we’ll be with you in one moment».
Other than that, can’t beat the unlimited $ 3.99 8X10’s.

I would give them more stars, but recently they went under new management. Since the new management, it has lost stars for me. I’ve been going there for a long time, and was always happy to see Megan and Mike who were always able to capture creative shots. They hired 3 new girls, and they were trained well and I didn’t feel that they did poorly at all, they were just as good as Megan. But since there is new management, there are no more familiar faces of Mike, Megan and the other girls. The only reason why I went was because of those photographers! I would’ve given 5 stars for the old team. Now I feel like the new management didn’t do the studio any good.
There are some pros though:
*prices! you can get tons of coupons on their website so it’s really cheap! If you bring in a coupon, you can technically just get the free 8×10, no sitting fee and that’s it! and if you want more, it’s only $ 3.99
*you can make appointments online
*photos are great quality
CONS:
*1 photo room
*the management seems to make you wait longer, more waiting time!
*new team seems to be more sales orientated than capturing what you’re looking for
*they never pick up their phone
*their «enhancement» photos are pricey!