Although we live in a time when discount stores and malls hold sway —the parking lot at the local Wal-Mart for the next several days will assume a look of perpetual gridlock — there are still thousands of small businesses across Western North Carolina whose primary mission is providing personal service to their customers.

For 21 years, the Willett family has operated the Christian Bible Book Shop on Main Street in Waynesville. During that time the family has underscored the importance of service and relationships with people.

“One thing Mom and Dad always did well was customer service,” David Willett says. “It sounds old hat, but the more stores you go into these days, the more you realize that customer service may be a disappearing part of the trade.”

David Willett and his wife, Deanna, are the second-generation owners of the Christian Bible Book Shop. Willett’s mother and father bought the business in 1980 from Davis Plemmons, and though the shop moved a few stores south on Main Street in 1986, it has continued to serve Haywood County as a supplier of Christian books and gifts..

Helen Willett, David Willett’s mother, operated the shop while her husband Wayne, a minister, served at various Baptist churches in the county.

“Mom always told me how impressed she was by Charlie of the former Charlie’s restaurant, where Duvall’s is now,” David says. “We used to eat there on a lot of Sundays, and Charlie made a big difference in that restaurant. He greeted the customers, gave children balloons, and just gave everybody who came in a big howdy do.”

After marrying Deanna in 1990, David worked for Asheville Industries, an engineering firm that had ties to the shipbuilding yards in Virginia. Deanna worked as a nurse until 1989, when she left her position to raise their two children, Patrick now 15, and Farrah, 12.

In 1994, the engineering firm began cutting jobs, and David went to work in the family store. He and Deanna took over full-time management of the store from his mother in 1996.

“It was quite a change,” says David. “I went from being behind a drafting board eight hours a day and seeing very few people to a full-time job in retail where I was constantly dealing with people. And that’s what I like best now — interaction with people." He adds that selling books and Christian gifts has given him many opportunities for ministry. “People come here looking for books to help them with everything from death to a marital crisis to parenting a step-child. Part of our job is to listen and to help them find the right book.”

Carolyn Messer, who has worked in the Christian Bible Bookstore for more than 10 years, helps run the store and assists customers. “Carolyn’s a wonderful employee,” Deanna says. “She’s good with people and an excellent help in all ways.”

Besides service, David stresses that staying knowledgeable about books and religious gifts, following buying trends, and knowing the needs of customers are vital for his business. With his computer, he has access to over 100,000 items, many of which he can have in his store within a day of ordering them.

“Fewer people are reading Christian living books these days,” he says, referring to books on morality, family life, and modern social issues. “But Christian fiction is really selling well.”

David emphasizes that he hand-chooses the books that are in his store.

“Our shop is not part of a chain,” he says. “I don’t have to take books that I don’t want in the store. I order what I want from our publishers, and if some book doesn’t meet our criteria, then we just send it back.”

Like other Main Street shops in Western North Carolina, the Christian Bible Book Store faces fierce competition from various discount outlets and from the Internet. The Willetts have stocked their store with a variety of items — books, gifts, calendars, cards, magazines, and music — in an effort both to serve their customers and to meet the challenges faced by small businesses today.

“Knowing your customers dictates what you will carry,” David says. “But even then it’s a challenge trying to figure out what will and will not sell.”

When asked to recommend books for Christmas gifts, Deanna points to a display of books behind the counter. “Max Lucado’s Traveling Light is good,” she said. She then crossed the floor to a shelf and returned with a copy of Christmas Stories For The Heart. “This is a little like the Chicken Soup books. It’s a nice gift.”

Then another customer approaches the desk with a question about T-shirts, and the Willetts are back to the business of customer satisfaction.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News