Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504050024
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
John Reed can't remember the exact date he and his wife Marlene opened Curry Copy Center in downtown Roanoke. He had more important things to worry about that day, he recalled.
Would he be able to get the store in shape for the opening?
How long would it take to make any money?
Would it indeed give him more time with his family, as he had hoped?
Those questions are all behind him now. After almost 18 years in business, Reed retired Friday - his 65th birthday.
``You want a piece of birthday cake?'' Reed said. ``We're really celebrating today.''
Reed and his wife opened the printing business in 1977, after he had worked for years as a salesman with a farm equipment manufacturer. That job required nearly constant travel and moving his family every two years.
At the time, the Reeds were living in Richmond with their three children. They were looking for a smaller city, but one that was not too small. Reed had visited Roanoke on business and liked the scenery. He also thought Roanoke was just the right size.
If it were up to him, Reed would have retired three years ago, but his wife wouldn't let him because they had too many bills, he said. Also, he was the only one who could do some of the shop's more demanding jobs, such as operate the printing press and the binder.
The store at 116 W. Campbell Ave. will remain open, with Marlene Reed at the helm.
``A few of my really good friends are giving me a hard time about making my wife work, but we want to keep the shop going,'' he said.
``Things are going to be tough for a while, because I'm the only one who knows how to run these machines,'' he said. ``We have hired another employee to take up the slack.''
Because Reed has run the shop since it opened, and because Curry Copy has been a fixture in downtown Roanoke for 17 years, some may wonder if the business will be the same.
``It's very well thought of by a number of businesses in the area,'' said Matt Kennell, director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., an organization of the central business district's merchants and property owners.
``With the values he has instilled in the company, I'm sure they will continue to do well,'' Kennell said.
Reed just wants more time for his blacksmithing and wood turning. He makes wooden bowls and carvings that he sells from a special case in the copy shop and at local craft fairs and his church.
``I'm going to find out if I'm an artist - or if I just think I am,'' he said.
Unlike many retirees, Reed said he doesn't have ``any desire to relax.'' And he may work at the shop in a ``dire emergency.''
``I'm hoping the difference will be that I'll be on my own schedule instead of a customer's,'' he said. ``I have no intention of sitting around.''
The years on Campbell Avenue have had their ups and downs.
Reed recalls the store's first six months as ``one of the scariest times of my life.'' His bank statement was close to zero. It took about a year for him to believe the store would be secure.
``You've got to have the determination that it will succeed regardless of what might occur and be willing to work hard enough to make it happen,'' he said.
``I never had any doubts that it would succeed. It just took so long,'' he said.
Many small-business owners look for a way out before they even get started, Reed said. They might give it six months, and if they don't make any money, they quit. Reed and his wife opened their store and never looked back.
``We wanted to operate a successful printing business,'' Reed said. ``That was our goal. I think we did.''
by CNB