Trekkie Duo’s Hope: Patrons Beaming Into Store

Folks inspired by watching “Star Trek: Generations” at the Garland Theater didn’t have to go far for another sci-fi fix.

Just one block west of the theater, at 3903 N. Madison, is a small store that bears the name “Star Base Continuum.”

The sign out front is decorated with a giant spaceship. Inside the store is one of the largest collections of Star Trek stuff this side of Jupiter.

But don’t fear. These neighborhood phaser vendors aren’t aliens. They’re a pair of friendly and talkative moms.

“I’ve always liked all of the shows,” says the store’s co-owner, Kelly Williamson, a 45-year-old mother of three. “There are a lot of Trekkies around, and at (fan) conventions people would buy all this stuff for usually twice what it was worth.”

So Williamson decided to try to undercut the convention competition. She talked a friend, 38-year-old Vicky Ehrgott, a mother of two, into joining her in exploring new business frontiers.

Williamson began her trek by applying for a small business loan, but was rejected. So she took out a second mortgage on her house and opened the store last November.

Now, she says, the business should warp into the profit zone - if she can force herself to part with her wares.

“Sometimes, I’ll get something I’m not sure I want to sell,” Williamson says. She has a personal weakness for Trek dining ware.

Partner Ehrgott’s enterprise is book collecting. She has about 500 volumes.

Their store has everything one would expect of a Starfleet trading vessel, including some “Star Wars” items. In stock are such basics as models of the Enterprise and Capt. Kirk action figures as well as more unusual items, such as talking lunch boxes in the shape of a Klingon’s head.

“Kids love those,” Ehrgott says.

Cups, key chains, T-shirts, jewelry, miniature spaceships, toy phaser guns, autographed celebrity photos and a complete wardrobe of costumes are there, too.

Sometimes, commercially available duds aren’t good enough for these die-hards. When Williamson wanted a replica of the suit worn by Maj. Kira (a character from the spinoff “Deep Space Nine”), she had one custom made for $350.

That’s fan devotion, but Ehrgott has one up on her. She named her 10-year-old daughter Rayna, after a character from an episode of the original 1960s TV show.

Fortunately, Rayna shares her mother’s fondness for the show, Ehrgott says.

Still, the family knows when to give Mom some space.

“They know when to leave me alone - when ‘Star Trek’ is on,” Ehrgott says.

While Williamson and Ehrgott are both united in their devotion to Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry’s fictitious universe, they disagree on which show is tops.

Williamson likes “Deep Space Nine” best, but Ehrgott isn’t about to beam away from the original.

“I like the classic,” she says. “It holds up pretty well.”

She begins explaining how people often don’t know what to make of a store called “Star Base Continuum.”

Just then, the shop’s door bursts open. A teenage girl pokes her head in as her idling car sits just outside.

“I just wanted to see what this place was,” the girl says. Ehrgott explains the shop’s peculiar mission to the girl.

“Cool,” she says.