The owner of Snapshot Cafe’ LLC is David Crosby, owner for 22 years of Crosby Stills Inc., a successful Greenville based commercial photography studio. With more than 100 local, regional, and national awards and even one international award, the studio has achieved recognition and provided a good living for Crosby and his family through the years.
Crosby Stills was based in the former Beth Israel synagogue on Townes Street in downtown Greenville for 17 years, and Crosby sold the building in 2003 .
The new location at Park Place brings high visibility, gallery and restaurant traffic, and a higher profile in the community.
David’s experience in starting ventures is substantial. He learned photography late in his college career, buying his first 35mm camera 13 months before graduation. After an intense year of reading, study, classes, seminars and much experience working for the University of Georgia’s 16,000 circulation daily paper, Crosby graduated with a degree in Magazine Writing, and began a full time career as a photojournalist. Two newspapers in Georgia led to a move to the Greenville News in 1980, and Crosby has been a Greenville area resident ever since.
Crosby started the commercial studio, now Crosby Stills Inc., in 1985 with an initial investment of $2,000. It struggled the first year, picked up steam the second and was very profitable by the third year. Crosby purchased the Townes Street building the third year, handling the interior demolition and many details of the renovation himself. The purchase of additional property and a renovation and small expansion of the building were undertaken in 1998.
Also in 1998 Crosby started DownTownes Gallery, a gallery showcasing the photography of regional artists. It was very well received by the community, having five to six shows a year during it’s three and a half year existence. Many of the openings had as many as three hundred visitors, followed by a small but steady stream during the run of the show. The gallery closed in 2002.
The gallery at Snapshot Cafe' gives us an opportunity to keep the art of photography in the public eye in Greenville. In return, Snapshot receives publicity in the newspapers and area magazines, and has created an atmosphere that appeals to restaurant patrons.
Crosby Stills has three photographers including Crosby, George Reynolds, (a staffer since 1996), and Kelly Brogdon, who joined CSI in 2004 after four years of freelancing for the studio.
Crosby is now using the same approach to start Snapshot Cafe’. Starting with six months of intensive study of the restaurant and coffee shop industry, Crosby has also received much guidance for the business plan from Bert Dixon, owner of Chicora Alley restaurant in downtown Greenville. Dixon has been very enthusiastic about the plan and the numbers. Bert has built a restaurant over the past three years with a similar concept and approach to the startup phase. He’s used limited renovation of a bare space, used restaurant furnishings and equipment, and a “do-it-yourself” work ethic to start Chicora Alley, which has been very successful, recently doubling in size. Crosby used similar methods in starting Crosby Stills and in starting Snapshot Cafe’.
Additional guidance has been provided through the SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) workshop, and through individual assistance from a SCORE counselor. SCORE has been very enthusiastic about the plan.
Recently, noted restaurateur Carl Sobicinski, owner of Soby’s, Restaurant O and Soby’s on the Side, spent time with David reviewing the business plan, location, staffing and concept for Snapshot Cafe’, and gave it a resounding endorsement.
David’s wife Marilyn is a Lutheran Pastor at Christ the King Church in Greenville. Her former career was as a CPA with her own practice, and later as controller of a large home building company in Columbia, SC. Her business and financial advice has contributed much to the restaurant.
