Postscript

THEN: In 1991 and 1992, we listed audiobook stores as a hot business to be in, with industry sales at an estimated $1 billion and more than 30,000 titles available. A product that "transformed downtime into uptime," we dubbed it the "new entertainment medium," the ultimate product for a population that prides itself on being able to do two things at once.

NOW: After reading our listings and sending away for Entrepreneur's Business Start-Up Guide How To Start Your Own Audio-Book Store (no longer published), Riverside, California, resident Ric Berg, 47, jumped on the bandwagon and opened The Audio Store in February 1994. In 1997, he partnered with Southield, Michigan-based Talking Book World, and today, he's vice president of operations and co-owner along with co-founders Richard Simtob and Tyrone Pereira. With a total of 40 stores in the United States and Canada, Talking Book World has reaped systemwide sales of about $7 million, contributing vastly to the now more than $2 billion industry.

This article was originally published in the October 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Postscript.