HALF
?RICE
'RECORDS
MAGAZINES
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mendment book store,” Bobey
says. “We’ll sell anything as
long as it’s not illegal.”
Half Price stays away from
hard pornography for this rea
son, he says. The store does
carry, however, Victorian erot
ica and American “adult” pub
lications. On a Sunday af
ternoon this month there were
as many people sequestered in
the adult magazine corner as
there were in the rest of the
store.
Some of the store’s less popu
lar sections make great brows
ing if not great buying.
Next to the religion room
there are two walls of spiritual
alternatives. Witchcraft, the oc
cult, mysticism, alchemy' and
demonology share a top shelf
over the sections on supernatu
ral and psychic phenomena.
In the reference section one
can pick up a copy of the “Se
cond Earnhardt Dictionary of
American Usage,” which de
fines “Mexican Brown” as “a
type ui oarK-coiorea neroin pro
duced in Mexico.”
A wide assortment of year
books, whether they are old Ag-
gielands or the ever-popular
University of Maryland 1978
Munich Campus Year Book, are
also available.
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Fritz Lanham, an editor at
the Bryan/College Station Eagle,
attributes some of the store’s
popularity to its large and var
ied inventory.
“You can get some very good
bargains in scholarly and aca
demic books,” he says.
Marianne Wong, a Texas
A&M student studying entymo-
logy, says she also comes for the
low prices.
“It’s, what I like best about
it,” she says.
/fair Price is one of over
stores in the four-state cha
New books come from
main store in Dallas. Empl
ees of the chain include buy
whose job it is to buy books
all the stores. Buyers may gc
far off as New York or Engl,
to make their purchases, Bol
says. All the stores are not ex
tly alike because the comp;
likes individual stores to imp
vise, using simple materials
their signs and decor, he says
“Each store is independent,
for the most part,” he says.
“Most things are up to the dis
cretion of the manager.”
Bobey, who has worked in
four of the stores, says sales are
much the same from one part
of the state to another. Science
fiction, historical romance and
adult magazines sell well. Reli
gion doesn’t.
1 eople like to look through
it, but they don’t like to buy it,”
he says. “And we might sell a
few more science books (than
other stores-in the chain).”
Some people think there are
differences more significant
than the decor between the
Biyan Half Price and its big-city
brothers. One unidentified cus
tomer spending the afternoon
in the store says he shops at
Half Price because “It’s the only
one in town,” but he’s seen bet
ter.
“B. Dalton closed up and Vi
deo King took their place,” he
says. “This is not a book town.”