The dealership began by selling MG, Austin Healey and Jaguar. In the early years, Jean Snyder worked as the business’s bookkeeper. The first location at 5636 East Virginia Beach Blvd. The name for the business was Jean’s idea as the image of auto racing – its black-and-white checked flags – came to her mind. Snyder split the $20,000 cost of the MG franchise with Copeland’s son, John Copeland Jr.Įd ran both businesses during those five years – spending his days at the store as general manager and nights at the auto dealership as co-owner and manager. He learned an MG franchise might be available and casually said he would be interested. When he brought the car to the Triumph dealership owned by John Copeland, a conversation ensued about the MG. But, with no MG dealership in the area, he decided against it since it would be difficult to have it serviced locally. While the couple was on vacation in Europe in the 1960s, Snyder wanted to buy an MG and have it shipped back to the states.
While stationed in London, Snyder not only met the love of his life, Jean, whom he was married to for 61 years until her death in 2017, he also acquired a love for British sports cars. The way he got into the automobile business was purely chance.Īfter he attended the University of Virginia and New York University, he served in the Air Force in the late 1940s. Ironically, the automobiles that enabled consumers to drive further outside the city limits for their shopping needs was what led to the decline of one of Snyder’s businesses and the growth of the other.Įd Snyder started Checkered Flag Motor Car Company five years before Snyder’s closed. The downfall for Snyder’s came as malls and chain stores made their way into the area. Its contents were auctioned, the building demolished and the property turned into a parking lot. Snyder’s, on Plume Street and City Hall Avenue, remained open for 75 years, shutting its doors in January 1969. That was the main principle Ed Snyder took with him as he begin his career in the automotive business. It was there Ed Snyder not only learned the love of retail, but also established that the customer and the service they were provided was the most important aspect of any business. When they retired, Ed and his younger brother, Harry, ran the store. In time, Louis Snyder’s two sons, Ben Paul and Sol, took over management and shortened the store’s name to Snyder’s. Snyder’s Department Store, which was established in 1894 in downtown Norfolk. His four brothers came over later and joined the family business, L. He began selling dry goods on Church Street in Norfolk and later switched the business to clothing and retail household furnishings. E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close Menu
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