Where can you order JCPenney merchandise, get a tan, rent a movie and buy a book – all in one store? Only one place in Austin: Super Star Video and Tanning and the Little Professor Book Center in the Sterling Shopping Center.

Monday, April 23, 2001

Where can you order JCPenney merchandise, get a tan, rent a movie and buy a book – all in one store? Only one place in Austin: Super Star Video and Tanning and the Little Professor Book Center in the Sterling Shopping Center.

Jack and Jeanie Butler have owned Super Star Video for 18 years in the Sterling Shopping Center. They opened the Little Professor Book Center eight years ago at OakPark Mall. They combined the two businesses in the Sterling Shopping Center two years ago after deciding paying for two overheads was not in their best interest.

"Our roots go pretty deep in Austin," Jack Butler said.

He was born in Blooming Prairie. He farmed for 25 years after graduating from the University of Minnesota and returning to the area. He said he distinctly remembers hauling hogs to Hormel with his grandfather.

He learned, however, that he could not properly support himself while farming and decided to get into the video store business. Butler and Jeanie kept adding businesses until they arrived at their current combination.

Besides hiring, buying the things they sell and keeping the bills paid, the Butlers help their nine employees wait on customers. They offer gift-wrapping and book delivery for a nominal fee.

The Butlers’ newest venture is a Web site: http://www.jeanieb.com. They have teamed with the American Booksellers Association to provide book ordering online. Buyers who log on can order their books and have them delivered to the store with no shipping charges. In this way, the Butlers’ Little Professor Book Center can be competitive with online bookstores like Amazon.com.

"Amazon hurts independents," Butler said.

In conjunction with their bookstores, the Butlers host on-site and off-site book signings and events for authors such as Douglas Wood, Roger Etzig and Mike Cotter. They also sponsor brown bag events at the store once per month on Saturdays for preschool through third-grade children.

Polly Jelinek reads the books to the children. On May 5, Jelinek will be reading "Mama, Do You Love Me" by Barbara Joosse.

Reading Rangers, a children’s program through the Little Professor Book Center, will be linked to the Web site in the near future. Reading Rangers runs from June 1 through the end of the summer and encourages children to submit answers to questions about the books they are reading. At the end of the summer, a winner is randomly drawn from those who submit their answers. The winner receives a computer, as does his or her school.

The video store portion of the Butlers’ business is family friendly. A castle inside the store houses family movies, so parents can avoid other video titles they may not want their children to see. "We probably have the largest family section around," Butler said. They also rent video games, including Genesis and Nintendo 64.

"Video is a tough business to be in," Butler said. "So we have more B and C titles than the bigger chains." These harder to find titles include the largest selection of hunting, fishing and outdoor tapes in Austin, according to Butler.

After renting five new-arrival titles, customers receive a free 20-minute tanning session. If it seems strange that tanning booths are connected to a video store, the Butlers think it is quite logical.

"Tanning is busy when the video is not, so the same labor can handle both," Butler said. Six employees are certified tanning technicians, which means they are able to properly instruct customers about getting a safe tan.

As part of their Total Entertainment Center affiliation, the Butlers now have their own brand of tanning products called Bare Necessities. Coupons for tanning can be found on the Butlers’ Web site.

The Butlers’ JCPenney catalog counter, in the rear of the store, allows customers to pay bills and pick up items ordered from the catalog.

The JCPenney catalog portion of the business is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and it’s closed on Sunday.

The rest of the store is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For information about the business, call 437-6084 or log on to http://www.jeanieb.com.

"Keep watching that ‘jeanieb,’" Butler said.