THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607020143
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Earning a Living in Virginia Beach
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 83 lines
Louise Brimmer hasn't one worry about the success of her new business.
She's certain people will drive from near and far to buy her products. How could they not, she questions? She's offering a world of knowledge to folks at bargain basement prices.
Brimmer owns Brimmers' Books in the London Bridge Shopping Center.
She sells new, used and antiquarian books starting at $1.
``It's not just buying books, it's buying knowledge,'' said Brimmer, a longtime English teacher who has taught in Hampton, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Brimmer's 600-square-foot store is stocked to the brim with books. There are books on shelves, propped up, stacked up and displayed on wall shelves and outside the store's front door.
The topics are many - history, health, travel, sports, the arts, romance, mystery, science fiction, religion, philosophy, textbooks, poetry, music and cooking.
Brimmer, 56, also has a section in the back dedicated to children's books. They range in price from 50 cents for used books up to $20 for new ones.
The antiquarian books include works such as ``The British Essayist'' published in 1855 that she sells for $3 each because the set is not complete and the books are not in perfect condition.
There's a book penned by Paul Laurence Dunbar, ``Lyrics of Lowly Life,'' that was published in 1896 and sells for $60.
Brimmer also offers classics by the likes of Poe, Dickens and Tolstoy. These paperbacks also start at $1.
Then there are the more modern authors like Norman Mailer, John Grisham and Maya Angelou.
Brimmer takes 10 percent off the cost of all the new books she sells.
In every category or topic of interest, she has made it one of her priorities to incorporate a number of books written by and about African Americans.
``They're hard to find,'' said Brimmer, a 1968 Hampton University graduate who specializes in African-American literature. ``The older books are especially hard to find. They were not being published years and years ago, so there were not that many in circulation.''
Brimmer has books on consignment and often trades books with customers.
One of the biggest aspects of her business, she says, is the free search service she offers. Customers who want an out-of-print book or a hard to find novel call Brimmer, who calls publishers and subscribes to a magazine that lists books that are for sale. All she needs to do a search is a title or a publisher and once she finds the book, she can special order it.
Brimmer, a ``bibliophile'' as she calls herself, doesn't use a computer to list her inventory. You need only ask her for a certain title, author or topic and she knows immediately whether she has it or not.
``It's all in my head,'' said Brimmer, who is on break from her part-time job as an adjunct professor at Norfolk State University and the Virginia Beach Campus of Tidewater Community College, where she teaches English. ``I know what I have and don't have.''
It's not unusual to find a stack of free books outside the store's front door. Or, to find a basket of children's books at reduced prices.
``I guess you could say it's a crusade to get people to read,'' said the woman who has two grown children and one son in his junior year of high school.
Brimmer has sold books ever since she can remember. When she and her family moved to Alabama, following on the heels of her military husband, she opened a used book store and sold books out of a small house she rented for that purpose.
Before that, when the family lived in upstate New York, Brimmer sold books directly out of her own home. The family moved to Kempsville in August. Brimmer considers this area her home and has no plans to move again.
As for retiring, Brimmer doesn't give it a thought. ``I don't want to retire. That's just another definition of dying for me,'' she said. MEMO: Brimmers' Books offers a Thursday story hour for preschool,
primary and middle school ages. She also offers a ``Write Right''
writing improvement class for personal, professional and educational
purposes. Call 631-6357. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
It's not just buying books, it's buying knowledge,'' says Louise
Brimmer, an English teacher who owns and runs Brimmers' Books in the
London Bridge Shopping Center. ``. . . I guess you could say it's a
crusade to get people to read.'' by CNB