Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406060137
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Longtime residents say they can't remember another in this town.
And Courtney and Richard Haynes, owners of the new Walker Creek Press, sure couldn't find one on a previous visit to Pulaski.
"We saw that there was an obvious need," Courtney Haynes said.
Most of the initial stock at the shop, which opened Wednesday, consists of used or out-of-print books, more than 20,000 of them. They may stock new releases later.
``There's a little bit of everything,'' Courtney Haynes said. ``We just get surprised every day with what's in there.''
The shop, at 103 E. Main St., also buys and trades books, depending on their condition or how much they have in stock. They provide credit slips for hardbacks and paperbacks traded in, similar to Softcovers, a used book store in Blacksburg.
The owners suggest that customers haunt yard sales, flea markets, auctions and other sources of low-priced books that can be traded at the store. ``We are always in need of good hardback non-fiction, clean children's books, Westerns, science fiction, horror and regional material,'' Richard Haynes said.
They take requests. Cards are available for customers to fill out if they are seeking certain books.
``Our goal is basically to be a local family community book store with, hopefully, a little bit of something for everybody,'' Richard Haynes said.
The couple's past is in printing - they printed their own newspaper for four years at their print shop in Hopewell, which they still own. They operate another in Bland County. Both are called Walker Creek Press and with the addition of the Pulaski business using the same name, they scurry around the state quite a bit.
``If we can make a go of the book business, I think we'll concentrate on that,'' Courtney Haynes said.
People in Pulaski were receptive when they began seeking a location for their own store, she said.
Walker Creek likely will stock a lot of regional items. There are books that deal with Pulaski County, the New River Valley and Southwest Virginia that could use a sales outlet, the couple said.
Some of the titles they have date back five to 10 years, while others are from the 1930s and 1940s and the turn of the century.
The couple anticipate plenty of customers.
``There are plenty of people around who read. They may watch a little TV, but they still read,'' Courtney Haynes said.
The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
by CNB