A PASSBOOK OF SAVINGS

Joan Stern owns and operates the kind of business that makes people wonder why they didn’t think of the idea first. The part-time home-maker and part-time actress/ comedienne is making a living by helping people save money.

Ever hear of a 2-inch-thick paperback catalog called Passbook Clubs of America Passbook of Entertainmenf? It’s full of discount “invitations” (most offering up to 50 percent off the retail price) for everything from meals at restaurants to health club memberships.

The catch is that you can only get the catalog through area employers or private organizations to which you belong. Employee recreation associations at companies such as Texas Instruments make passbooks available to their members, and groups such as the Lions Club order the books from Stem and then sell them at fund-raisers.

The passbooks will never be sold in retail stores, however, because that would put Stem in competition with her own clients. Sears Roebuck and Co. tried to convince her that it was the perfect retailer to sell the passbook, but she declined. Selling only to select organizations makes it easier for Stem to assure clients that they can expect a certain type of customer to use the coupons and to frequent their businesses.

Stern, whose four children and husband help her run the nearly 6-year-old business from a warehouse office in North Dallas, has stacks of letters from restaurant managers who say that the discount coupons have helped to attract customers on slow days. Organizations such as the Dallas Mavericks, which offers the books to season ticket holders, have sent letters of appreciation to Stern.

The tremendous growth of Stern’s business in the past couple of years is reflected in the thickness of the book. She hopes that her son, Rob, who now acts as vice president, will someday take over the business. But word travels quickly once someone latches onto a successful business idea, and the competition is heating up.

Stern says her greatest worry at the moment is deciding just how serious a threat a large Michigan-based corporation poses. The company apparently provides a similar service on a national scale and insists that Stern stop using the word “entertainment” to describe her passbook.

Despite the threat, she’s confident that her customers will remain loyal as the competition increases.