By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Deal Safrit looks like the kind of guy who ought to own a bookstore.
He’s thin and wears his gray hair long, in a ponytail. He’s got a moustache. Blue jeans and suspenders are his wardrobe of choice.
Grab a dictionary from one of the shelves at Literary Bookpost, look up the words “free spirit,” and you’d almost expect to see Safrit’s face smiling back.
Safrit, 59, opened Literary Bookpost in 1998. The store is at 119 S. Main St. in downtown Salisbury.
It’s an eclectic business, packed with thousands of books of every description.
“I had a need to open this store,” Safrit said. “It was just something I had to do.”
Ask Safrit his life history and he laughs before saying, “You name it and I’ve done it.”
Then he proceeds to list a handful of his previous professions, proving he’s not stretching the point. At one time or another, Safrit has worked as everything from garbage collector to warehouseman.
He was once director of parking and traffic at UNC Charlotte.
“And I spent 20 years as a locksmith,” Safrit said. “Self-taught.”
But from his earliest days, Safrit was also a voracious reader.
He swears this tale is true: His first job, back when he was about 10 or 11, was as a carrier of the Salisbury Post.
Safrit used the proceeds from his newspaper route to subscribe to the Charlotte Observer so he might read both publications.
Think that made him a hit with his classmates? Actually, it did.
“Deal is best described as an iconoclast,” said Ted Blanton, a Salisbury attorney who attended school with Safrit from the pair’s earliest days.
“Deal has always marched to a different drummer,” Blanton continued. “He’s the only one of his type. There is no mold.”
Blanton said he has frequented Literary Bookpost since Safrit opened its doors.
He likes the feel of the place, Blanton said, and even stretches out on the floor on occasion to take a look at a publication or two that interests him.
Blanton said he likes the fact that Safrit and his employees know something about almost every book they sell.
“Sometimes I’ll pick out two or three and say, ‘Which one’s best?’ ” Blanton said. “They’ll tell me.”
Blanton said Literary Bookpost is one of Salisbury’s overlooked jewels, the kind of business that locals need to patronize lest we’re left with no choice but to buy our books from impersonal retailers like Wal-Mart or ó even worse ó amazon.com.
“I think of the Literary Bookpost as one of the real treasures of Salisbury,” Blanton said.
After graduating from Boyden High School, Safrit spent a year at Western Carolina University, then transferred to UNC Charlotte. He was in the final semester of his senior year ó working toward a triple major in sociology, urban planning and geography ó when he dropped out.
“I never did graduate,” Safrit said, grinning as he admitted to the immaturity of the decision he made those many years ago.
Did he ever consider finishing his degree?
“Not in the past 20 years,” Safrit said.
When he was growing up, Safrit used to pedal his bike to Bunker’s Bookshop, located near Catawba College, close to where a big Walgreens Drugstore now stands.
The business was operated by Nathan Bunker.
At Bunker’s, Safrit would pore over the offerings.
“I hung out there,” he said. “Even when I was 10, I wanted my own bookstore.”
Safrit was working primarily as a locksmith when in the mid-1990s he made his first stab at turning that dream into reality.
He started by building a 4-x-7-foot shelf and selling some of his favorite books at the former Rainy Day Books on East Innes Street. The business proposition centered around a verbal agreement between Safrit and John Thompson, the owner of Rainy Day Books.
“I just asked for a little bit of space to sell a few books and he said that was fine,” Safrit said.
The success of that venture turned out better than Safrit had hoped, and that first 4-x-7 shelf turned into another. And then another.
“And I finally decided to try my own shop,” Safrit said.
For the first five years of Literary Bookpost’s existence, Safrit continued working part time as a locksmith.
He gradually weaned himself of that second profession.
“We do make a profit,” Safrit said of his bookstore. “It’s not a big one, but it’s a profit. We put most of it back into inventory.”
Nowadays, Safrit’s daughter, Daphne, works as the store manager. Safrit said that by a conservative estimate, he puts in 70 hours a week maintaining the business.
“It’s a labor of love,” he said. “I pay myself about $2 an hour. Or less.”
Safrit laughs: “I couldn’t do it if my wife didn’t have a day job. Or, as she puts it, a real job.”
Safrit’s wife, Sheila Brownlow, teaches at Catawba College and is director of the school’s honors program.
Safrit said he enjoys the clientele his store attracts, people like Blanton, who feel comfortable enough to come in and stretch out and take a gander at the latest offerings from the literary world.
John Basinger is another Salisbury attorney who frequents Literary Bookpost.
He said he stops by at least twice a month, always impressed, he said, with the store’s collection of New York Times bestsellers as well as books focusing on history or matters of social commentary.
“I think we’re extremely fortunate to have them here,” Basinger said.
He said Safrit and his staff are always happy to give their opinions about a book, not minding telling customers, should they inquire, that an offering might not be worth their time.
“If you ask about any given book, Deal’s either read it or knows someone who has,” Basinger said. “But he can also talk about mundane parts of the day with you.”
Safrit said he tries to give back to the community in various ways. He holds book signings when a national writer rolls through town or when a local author puts his name to a book.
A relatively new addition to the schedule at Literary Bookpost is the Saturday Salon, where customers can stop by and visit with local and regional authors.
The Literary Bookpost, Safrit said, measures about 1,800 square feet. Though Safrit was for years the sole owner of the business, Bill Greene, a local banker, bought a share in the establishment in November.
Come June, the business will be making its first move in 10 years, but not far, just across the street to 110 S. Main St.
The new shop will measure about 4,600 square feet, giving the staff of Literary Bookpost and its customers the opportunity to stretch out.
Safrit promises the small-town feel and attention to detail won’t be lost.
He said a customer representative of one of the book companies he deals with once described Literary Bookpost as “more of a library bookstore.”
It’s easy to see how someone could feel that way.
With the exception of a few shelves at the front of the store, most of the books at Literary Bookpost are filed facing inward, as are books in a library.
Customer have to pull them out to see what they are.
“I’ve been told that if we faced them all out, we’d only fit in about one-fifth the inventory,” Safrit said. “I don’t want that.”
And so, at Literary Bookpost, things are likely to continue for years as they’ve existed for the past decade.
“We get lots of out-of-town customers who drive over just to come in and browse,” Safrit said. “I’m not sure of many businesses that can say the same.”