Newspapers / Salem College Student Newspaper / Feb. 10, 1961, edition 1 / Page 6
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Page Six THE SALEMITE February 10, ]%i Mr. Snavely’s Bookstore Won’t Make Him A Mill ionaire By Susan Hughes “You don’t get rich in the book store business . . That’s the an swer that Mr. Snavely gives to all the curious souls who ask him “Aren’t you rich?” Our Mr. Snavely has been in the bookstore business ever since he was fourteen years old. His family moved all around the country and during his teen-age years they lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, where his father was a linotype operator for the J. B. Bell Company. The company had a large printing plant and a bookstore. One night Mr. Snavely’s father came home and told him that they needed a boy to deliver packages, and so Mr. Snavely took the job. By the time he was eighteen years old he was buyer for the bookstore. In 1928 he came to Winston- Salem to work at Watkins Book store, and in 1932 when he heard that the bookstore at Salem was being closed and the girls would be left to buy things wherever they could, he bought the book store. For about twenty-four years he operated our bookstore and re mained the buyer for the book store uptown. Now he has this bookstore and does not buy for anyone else. Mr. Snavely says if you read the Publisher’s Weekly, you can see that there isn’t much money in the book and stationery business. Hardly any college graduates go out and plan to open a bookstore, and when the causes are traced they invariably turn out to be a lack of return on the investment. Another reason is the fact that few towns need more than one or two bookstores. So many times the department stores have book cor ners, and this seems to show that it is hard to make a bookstore stand on its own feet. “One of the tragedies of the reading public,” Mr. Snavely says, “is the fact that America has the fewest number of bookstores per capita of any nation in the world.” “A person has to almost be a little crazy to get into the business, but it’s like teaching in college— you don’t get much money, but its in your blood and you love it . . .” He says it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Mr. Snavely says that President Rondthalcr used to try to get him r Mr. Snavely shows a fish caught on one of his rare fishing trip vaca- tions from the Book Store. to talk to the girls in chapel about his business and his life, but Air. Snavely says that that was out of his element—he’d rather talk to us in his store than face us en masse. When he became a buyer at the bookstore in Lynchburg, he was only eighteen. He did the same work for Randolph-Macon College that he does for Salem College, and he recalls this incident as one of his favorites; One day a little college girl ran in and said “I believe your forte in life is helping college girls in dis tress . . .” Mr. Snavely said he felt it was supposed to be a com pliment, but he had to go look up the word “forte” to see what it meant. BAR Fountain favorites for co-eds Want To Go When Yon Want To Go CALL Pkone Pa 2-7121 PAY A LITTLE MORE . . . LOOK MUCH BETTER For finest quality beauty work . . . For designed hair cuts,. . . For styling and permanent waving to suit you and your features try THE HAIRDESIGNERS BEAUTY SALON Downtown at 416 N. Spruce St. Phone PArk 4-2411 J!5is®aiai®®ajgjg@@jgjgjg;gjgjgjgjg]a'SMaisi3J3MaiaiaMraiaiajffi3iaiaiaisj3iaj3iaisiiEi After he left Lynchburg, he dealt mostly with men, and was a little older by the time he got to Salem Bookstore. “When I came down here, I just about died. There were too many girls and I didn’t know how to act or talk. A girl would come in and ask for a pair of stockings and I would just about drop dead.” Now, he says, salesmen come in and see him laughing and talking when about half the school des cends on him at once and always they ask, “How do you stand it?” And Mr. Snavely just laughs and tells them he’s been with us twenty-nine years. He says one thing that keeps him here is the fact that so many girls come in to see him for years after they’ve graduated, and they bring the children. He loves to see them come in and wa-\»e and smile—and I’m sure one reason they want to come back is to see his smile. Girls can rush' in forty to fifty strong and he never loses that smile. He sees us at our worst and he never loses that smile. He has to stick to his policies, but he never loses that smile. Mr. Snavely says the reason for his good life is his faith. “That is the unquestionable secret of my happiness. It’s not a plaything.” He feels that although he has not made a lot of money he is rich in experience and friendship. And he believes that to go down to his store and do the best he can every day is the best service he can give. Counted among his blessings are his wife, two sons, a daughter am five grandchildren who live withj, driving distance of his home, jjj favorite pasttime during ,his tinii off—which isn’t much—is fish;, and his “office” behind the rows o books, flashbulbs, records and si on, has several pictures of hjj with the fish he’s caught—big ones too. As for Salem girls, he says " can brag about them because have been here for twenty-nini years.” He says that one of thi used book buyers who come to thi store told him that he traveled al over the United States buying books from girls who just couldn’ seem to understand why the de predation of a book lowered thi value so much. He sees girls a their worst, arguing and griping but he said to Mr. Snavely thal Salem girls have a quality of char acter that he’s never seen any. where else in the United States “Now he didn’t have to say thai . . .” said our Mr. Snavely, “but he saw what I’ve seen all this time.” MORRIS SERVICE Next to Carolina Theatre ♦ * ♦ * * Sandwiches - Salads • Sodas “The Place Where Salemite* Meet” Town Steak House Two Fine Restaurants To Serve You No. 1—107 LOCKLAND AVE. No. 2—300 SOUTH STRATFORD RD. AIRLINE STEWARDESSES UNITED AIRLINES Many of you will soon be finishing your college studies and Will be looking for a career that is interesting, exciting and challenging. A career 'as a_ Mainliner Stewardess offers just ^ch an opportunity. You will travel the country from Coast to Coast and meet hundreds of interesting people Minimum requirements are: Single; height S’2” to S’8”; weight 138 or less according to height; age 20, not yet 27. Contact lenses and glasses will be considered. For more information and application, please contact: MR. JOHN RUSSELL Carolina Hotel Tuesday, February 14 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. Or write to: Employment Manager 5959 S. Cicero Avenue Chicago 38, Illinois FOR SCHOOL NEWSPAPERS YEARBOOKS PROGRAMS COLOR-PROCESS PLATES Let our experience solve your problems. PIEDMONT ENGRAVING CO. WINSTON-SAL GIRLS: “HE DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT.” - - - LET’S FOOL HIM AND FIND SOMETHING! ! Becky Chappell SALEMITES MEET AT THE PETER PAN SALADS STEAKS SEAFOOD 825 S. Marshall Phone PA 5-3181
Salem College Student Newspaper
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Feb. 10, 1961, edition 1
6
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