Editor's note: This is one in a weekly series of profiles on locally owned and operated businesses in Southern Oregon.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

I sell antiquarian and used books, I've been doing it 35 years. Bill Cronin started the store in the late 1960s; before that Southern Oregon Health Insurance was located here. Antiquarian is kind of a snobby term, I guess. There are some rare books worth several thousands bucks. Used books are run-of-the-mill stuff, but I try to have both. I sell maybe 30 to 40 books a month over the Internet. It's so heavily populated now with everybody and their dog doing it, it's tough. I've probably got about 12,000 books online.

How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley?

I was born on a ranch outside of Phoenix and then went into the service for three years. When I came back, I worked at Jorgensen's Dairy, then went to work selling insurance for Metropolitan Life.

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What inspired you to go into this line of work?

My dad had a library and I grew up thinking everybody had a library in their home. When this business came for sale, I bought it and it needed some help. Bill Cronin had it sort of as a tax shelter. I built it up a little bit and have been here ever since. I wish I would've discovered it earlier in life, I probably wouldn't have had gray hair and an ulcer.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again?

The book business is not a hell-fire roaring, retail business; it just by nature isn't. Books are a commodity. You associate it with reading and literary discussion. Half of the people you meet on the street, haven't read a book since they left school. So I have to make a dollar on the 10 percent or fewer that read books. I could advertise free books and half of the people in the country could care less. I go into a strange community and I can tell you where every bookstore in that community is in a half hour. But I have people come in who will say I didn't know you were here and they've lived here all of their lives. It's pretty hard to change that.

What's the toughest business decision you've made?

Recently the building had to be retrofitted. I had the option to change locations, go out of business or store the books and come back after everything was fixed. I was in my late 70s then. Everybody says "when are you going to retire?" and I say "And do what?" I decided to store everything and went out of business for six months, from January to June in 2004. We stored everything in three large storage units. It was one thing dismantling the place — I was getting 30 to 40 boxes from the liquor store a day — but the real problem was putting them back. You've got to know where they are and alphabetize them. I had to know how to find them. Then I had to reconfigure the store because I lost a couple hundred feet of space when they put in an elevator.

Who are your competitors?

The competition is in the acquisition of books. I used to go into thrift shops and scrounge around for books and would be the only person. Now everybody and their dog are scrounging around and they're putting books on the Internet for a dollar. If they knew what they were doing they'd be dangerous because once in a while they find a book. eBay and other Internet auctions have hurt retailers like myself. Everybody is trying to make a buck and you can't blame them for that.

How do you define success for your business?

If it's fun. This is something that I look forward to going to every morning. I don't care if you're a garbage collector or whatever, if you look forward to doing it every day, you're lucky and that's the way I feel about it. As far as dollars and cents it's not great, but it allows me to travel and meet interesting people. Sen. (Mark) Hatfield used to come in every time he was in town and (actor) Vincent Price dropped by looking for a book once.

What are your goals?

My goal is survival and continuing to keep doing what I'm doing. I like older antiquarian hardbacks and dislike paperbacks, other than to grab and read on an airplane. To sell paperbacks is like selling candy bars. I do get my feathers fluffed when I see a real nice old hardback with the dust cover still on.

What training or education did you need?

It's an odd thing about book sellers. You've got to have a sixth sense about a book. You've never seen the author or title before and say that's got to be a pretty good book. Then at book sales, a lot of people have no idea. One time I went to a Goodwill store and found a copy of Will James' "The Lone Cowboy." I picked it up and it had stains on the spine. I paid like 65 cents for it. I got to my daughter's home and started going through my stash and opened it up. On the inner front cover, was a black and white photo of Will James and then on the fly leaf was the original charcoal sketch by Will James signed in 1938. I sold that to another dealer for $500; today it would be worth a lot more. That's an exciting part of the business. Another time there was a Charles Lindbergh book, and the only reason I picked it up was because I didn't recognize the title. I found a personal note signed by Charles A. Lindbergh and I sold that one for $400.

What's your advice for budding entrepreneurs?

I would recommend to be fair, aboveboard and honest with everybody you deal with; that's all you have to sell to begin with: your reputation.

To suggest an idea for this column, contact reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com