Catalog of the Year Awards

DiGiovanni continued his college studies at night while running the store and visiting local churches during the day. In 1975, a few years after graduation, he saw an ad from Solar Press for co-op card decks that mailed to churches across the country.

Sensing an opportunity to not only grow the business but personalize it using his interest in merchandising, DiGiovanni asked one of his vendors whether he’d get a good price if he bought bulk quantities of a particular alb (a garment worn by clergy in many Christian churches). The vendor agreed, and Autom began a venture into alternative-media prospecting and mail-order sales.