■ ••••• -•.". • . 1 44 Friday, January 10, 1986 • • , • THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS e Entertain Ilughes and Sheila Potiker's two-for-one approach has paid big dividends. BY TEDD SCHNEIDER Staff Writer The Potikers at Entertainment's world. headquarters in Birmingham. t has bee years since Hughes and. Sheila otiker first dreamed up the idea for the En- tertainment Book late one night over their Oak Park kitchen` table. In that time, the pair has become a kind of living, breathing extension of the "buy one, get one, free" product which they now mhrket in 62 North American cities and three countries overseas. Ask him a question, and she chimes in with an answer while he's still getting his thoughts together. Talk to Sheila (pronounced to rhyme with "smile") about life as a workihg mother, and Hughes will tell you what it's like to be a working father. Spend- ing time with the Potikers is perhaps . has been expanded somewhat beyond the immediate family. Entertainment - presently employs nearly 450 people, including more than 200 at its world headquarters in Birmingham.- •In addition to the popular coupon books which offer discounted leisure- , time activities for residents and tourists in the United States, Canada, England, Denmark and, for the first time, Israel (see separate story), the Entertainment doinain includes a travel agency, condominium rental bank for vacationers, a direct-mail magazine for local 'advertisers and a newly-launched telephone marketing operation. Projects on the drawing board include a buying service that will help consumers find the lowest available price for a number of pro- ducts and services and, believe it or not, an airborne traffic control service similar to the ones used by radio and television stations. So who comes up with- all these wonderful schemes? Each is quick to credit the other with being the brains behind the entire operation. Actually, the work load is -distributed evenly, a fact which both will readily admit when pressed. "We're sort of an, unusual combi- nation," Hughes says of he and his wife. "I think, from a business standpoint, we form a super, composite person. We've been able to comple- ment each other very well. "Besides," he jokes, "we have a perfect understanding. I just listen to her and do whatever she says." Sheila, whose official title is executive vice president and secret- ary, acknowledges that she probably has more feedback on moves by her husband/chairman of the board than she' would if he weren't her spouse. Most =of the major decisions are shared ones, she says. While working together every day for the last quarter-century hasn't al- ways been a picnic, the couple has managed the stress by carving out separate niches in the company hierarchy. "'We found that it was bet- ter to confine our activities to different areas of the business," Sheila says. "In the quintessential two-for-one experi- ence. , ,‘ But it is that interaction between the husband-and-wife management team -- bouncing ideas off each other much the same way a pair of top-notch tennis'players will rally back and forth seeking the best opening -- which has been one of the keys to the phenomenal growth of Entertainment Publications Inc. Oh, it's still just a family-run coupon business. But as the Enter tainment Book marks its silver, an- niversary, the base of operations is no longer Hughes Potiker's cramped law office of the early 1960s (with the kitchen table in Oak Park often pro- viding auxiliary space). And the staff L. , '•';'2 ?",,,t, • ••,:* `.4••••-,' • ,,,