ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100062
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
A morning walk around downtown Blacksburg usually meant nothing more than exercise and a glimpse of small-town scenery for local resident Peggy Smith. But a morning walk in March led to a new business venture for Smith and a new bookstore for downtown.
Smith was walking with her friend Renee Gillie, the owner of Gillie's restaurant and Bollo's coffee shop, which shared a building with the town's once thriving bookstore, Books Strings & Things.
When she learned from Gillie that BS&T would be closing its doors after 31 years of business, Smith decided she didn't want to see the downtown bookstore disappear ... so she bought it.
She then talked her sister, Kelly Young, into leaving a well-paying sales job with a Cleveland company to move to Blacksburg to serve as the store's manager.
"I just decided that I hated to see it close," said Smith, who had moved to Blacksburg with her family seven years ago from her hometown of Oberlin, Ohio. "I'm interested in the town maintaining a healthy downtown district. With the reopening of The Lyric [theater], I think people will have more of an interest in maintaining the downtown area as opposed to going to a big shopping center."
Smith cheerfully admits she doesn't know anything about the book business. "I'm a complete novice." But she hopes to turn that to her advantage by asking customers what they want and shaping the bookstore to fit their needs.
When the doors to the old bookstore reopened May 17 the sign simply read, "The Booksmith."
"Negotiations to buy it were so intense that I didn't even think of a name until it was done," Smith said. "So I had a group of friends over that night and we put a bunch of ideas on a legal pad and voted. It wasn't until the next day when someone said, 'nice play on words' that I realized it had my name in it. The funny thing is one of the suggestions had been "Peggy's Pages" and I hated that because I didn't want my name in it.
"Now I think, 'Wow, what a business decision.' When people ask what my marketing strategy was I say, 'About four bottles of champagne!'"
Whatever it was, it seems to have worked. In its first few weeks, The Booksmith has already drawn a loyal following - without the majority of Virginia Tech students in town.
"Although students are a large part of the business, I'd like for more of the townspeople to come back downtown," Smith said. "We advertise this as a community bookstore, and that's what I'd like it to be rather than just catering to the college students.
Her book distributor helped her decide on a basic beginning inventory, but as the store grows, Smith hopes to go beyond basic best sellers and build a collection of art, architecture and history books to satisfy her clientele.
Customers have been offering suggestions for inventory, and coinciding with that Smith has decided to deduct 20 percent off any book that has to be special ordered.
"My theory is if we don't have the book in the store then that person should get a discount," Smith said. "I think they should be able to find what they're looking for."
One man who already seems to be finding everything he's looking for is Paul Rossi, a Blacksburg resident who works for Roanoke County Schools. Smith said Rossi has visited the shop two to three times each week since the store's opening.
"I just think it's wonderful," Rossi said. "I think everyone was worried that the bookstore wouldn't come back ... now it just seems to be growing every day."
In addition to carrying a wide selection of books and compact discs, the store will offer other sideline items as well. Smith will attend the American Book Sellers Association Convention this month in Chicago with Nancy Johnson, the manager of the children's literature department, in search of merchandising concepts.
"We're so new at this we really have no idea what to carry - what might blend without competing with the other businesses in town," Smith said. "Hopefully, the convention will give us some ideas."
The Booksmith will also continue with Gillie's and Bollo's theme of displaying local artwork on its walls. The first display will come from Joe Germana, an associate professor of psychology at Virginia Tech.
"I began my teaching career at Tech in 1965, the same year that the original Books Strings & Things opened," Germana said. "For many years Books Strings & Things served not only as a book and music shop, but also as a site of friendly congregation.
"I can imagine many people like myself who were encouraged by the idea of renewal - grateful that someone would reinvest in a business which also served the cultural needs of our community," he said. "I feel pleased and honored to have some of my paintings represented there."
And although the store will remain open, the remodeling isn't complete. Plans are in the works to open the wall between Bollo's and the bookstore by fall so shoppers can wander from bookstore to coffee shop.
Smith will be competing for business against well-established competitors such as Printer's Ink and Volume II bookstores in University Mall. Customer service is one way she hopes to set her store apart. Smith hopes to establish several community outreach programs by fall, including holding book fairs in local schools and offering teacher workshops.
"There was so much publicity about Books Strings & Things closing that I want people to get a positive image about the store reopening - about downtown reopening," Smith said. "But it all depends on how the community accepts us.
"Me, the eternal optimist, I think it's going to be fabulous."
Name: Peggy Smith
Age: 37
Family: Husband, Brian Smith, investment representative with Edward Jones & Co.; son, Trevor Gray, 12; stepson, Tyler Finnegan, 9, of Ohio, who designed the store's logo
Business: The Booksmith
Location: 212 Draper Road, the former site of Books Strings & Things
Number of books in stock: 10,000
Number of employees: Nine full- and part-time
Annual projected sales: Estimated at over $250,000
Hours: 9 a.m. -9 p.m. Monday through Saturday
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Peggy Smith stands amid the 10,000 booksby CNBshe has in stock at The Booksmith in downtown Blacksburg. color.