This photo book service is costly compared to many of the other options on the market. The interface isn’t the most intuitive and there aren’t a lot of cover or size options to choose from. However, the final product is something that you can be proud of.
Meijer Photo is the most expensive photo book service we tested. This service doesn’t offer 8 x 8 photo books, so we looked into buying a 10 x 10 photo book. It costs roughly $50 before tax and shipping for a book with 20 pages. In comparison, the high-quality 8 x 8 lustre paper photo book we got from AdoramaPix only cost $41.99 before tax and shipping. Only in that case, the high price is warranted for the product you receive. If you’re wanting to add more pages to your Meijer Photo book, it only costs you $0.39 per page, which is much cheaper than many other services. But considering how expensive the book is to begin with, this isn’t much of a money saver.
The cover image printed a little dark but looked good overall. Testers said they liked the look and the feel of the matte hardcover binding, which had a smooth texture to it. This book comes with a cardstock-like flyleaf to protect the pages. Our testers liked the feel of the pages as they were thicker than most of the other books’. The image quality on the pages was very nice, both true to color and with only a little graininess showing up on some of the images.
While the service didn’t offer nearly as many background options as Mixbook or Shutterfly, it offered a modest 183 to choose from - more than enough to give your book variety and character. I counted 80 predesigned books on the site simply waiting for you to add your photos to the graphics and pre-chosen backgrounds.
You’ll only find three cover options and three book sizes on this service: 8.5 x 11, 10 x 10 and 12 x 12. The cover options are hardbound, softbound and window cover. You won’t find any leather, lay-flat or fabric cover options. For more cover options, check out Snapfish.
While the site’s editing interface looks similar to other services, the editing controls were more frustrating. Instead of being able to drag and drop your desired layouts or backgrounds wherever you wanted them, you had to first select the page you wanted to change and then the options would appear. The photo layout tab is excessively organized and forces you to click through multiple pages before getting the choices you want. The software does give you more freedom than some others in that it allows you to free transform layout windows to fit a specific square shape onto any page. You can also use the autofill button if you simply want the program to place your photos for you.
Meijer Photo stores your photos online so you can access them at any time to order prints or other photo projects. You can import images from Facebook, Instagram or Flickr. I didn’t see any ways to share your albums with others, so if you want to make a photo book with someone’s input, you’d have to have them sitting next to you during the creation process. Not an ideal process.
This service does offer express shipping options so you can get your projects sent to you in a hurry. Unfortunately, this service does not provide international shipping. You can also order your photo books and projects for in-store pickup at your local brick and mortar Meijer store. Should you need help with your photo book, you can contact a customer rep using live chat or email. You’ll also find a FAQs page on the company’s website that gives plenty of insights to the process.
Meijer Photos’ final product is very nice and would look good on any coffee table or bookshelf. However, this isn’t the easiest photo book service to use, nor is it the cheapest. The creation process is a bit complicated compared to other services with better pricing. Book sizes and cover options are limited to only three options so you’ll need to be happy with what the company offers. When it comes down to it, there are plenty of better-priced options out there that will give you an equally nice looking photo book.
