Dear Downhome:<br /> <br /> I wonder if your readers remember the old Dicks Book Store which operated at 247 Water Street in St. John's when I was a lad in the mid 1940s. It was founded in 1840 by John Dicks for his son Robert, whose wife Mary Jane eventually became involved. Subsequent owners included John Leaman in 1939, G. Doug Rogers in 1941, James Austin II in 1955 and finally James Austin III in 1975. It is still in operation today, although at several different locations. My friends and I used to frequent the place on Saturday afternoons to listen to records in a room set up especially for that purpose, before buying them. <br /> <br /> The photo shows the staff assembled in the store in the early 1900s. Source: Patrick O'Flaherty, Literature in Newfoundland, in Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol 3. 1991.<br /> <br /> John Cornick<br /> Halifax, Nova Scotia<br />   Submitted By: John Cornick