An Enterprising Career Change : Entrepreneur: Store targets Star Trek fans. Owner loves his work and is turning a small profit.

Jerry Lazar has boldly gone where few have gone before, and he’s doing a brisk business there.

Lazar recently opened a store in Santa Ana devoted to Star Trek memorabilia. “It’s sort of like a mini-convention, but there’s no cover charge or two-drink minimum,” he said.

Lazar, 40, opened The Trekker about three months ago after leaving a 20-year career as an escrow officer for several companies, including his family’s Lazar Escrow in Long Beach.

“I like fun stuff,” he said. “We don’t take things seriously here, and that’s why I’m here. I’m tired of being an adult.”

He started the shop with $40,000 he received from an inheritance. Since then, more than 1,300 customers have come through the doors, he said. He projects sales for his first year in business to top $60,000.

The store is already turning a small profit of about $800 a month, said Lazar, who is the sole owner and employee.

Situated at 2431 N. Tustin Ave, Suite M, the shop offers crystal Enterprise paperweights, Bajoran-style earrings, masks and posters. There are life-size cutouts of Capt. Kirk., Mr. Spock, Capt. Picard and other members of the Enterprise crew. The shop also features uniforms from the original series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine.”

The most expensive items are limited-edition lithographs of the Enterprise hurtling past exploding planets. One lithograph, autographed by Patrick Stewart, the actor who plays Picard, sells for $600.

Cindy Chasse of Irvine spent a recent lunch hour at the store browsing for Trek trinkets.

Chasse, 32, said that when she first heard the store was opening, “I said, ‘I’ve got to go there and see what they have.’ ”

She said that the store doesn’t match the variety of memorabilia available at Star Trek conventions. However, it offers hard-to-find items such as the lithographs. For collectors, she said, “this place is great. Absolutely great.”

During her visit, Chasse bought several items, including a magnetic puzzle displaying a holographic image of the Enterprise and other star ships.

“I also got a glow-in-the-dark Enterprise. I have glow-in-the-dark stars in my room, and I needed an Enterprise for it,” she said.

Dressed in the blue and black uniform of a Starfleet medical officer, Lazar said that when he was considering starting a business, he was unsure what direction to take.

“I asked myself, ‘What do I really have a passion for?’ The answer was Star Trek and the Lakers, but the way they’ve been playing, I figured it would be too hard to make money off the Lakers.”