CHURCH-BASED BOOKSTORES STAYING AFLOAT IN DIGITAL AGE
Lisa Albert used to be the assistant manager of the United Methodist Church’s Cokesbury Bookstore in a shopping center in East Memphis. Now she’s a home-based consultant for the denomination’s Nashville-based retail division.
Cokesbury closed all of its 57 stores this year to focus on online and phone sales, including one in Memphis. Company surveys showed that fewer than 15 percent of customers shopped exclusively in its bookstores.
Like their larger secular counterparts, brick-and-mortar Christian bookstores are giving way to the growth in online sales. Five years ago, the Christian Booksellers Association claimed 2,400 members. Now there are fewer than 1,000. Earlier this year, CBA ended its annual Christian Store Week event.
“If bigger (book) stores such as Borders close, just imagine how hard the business is for a not-for-profit like Cokesbury,” said Albert.
But while Christian bookstores are declining, they aren’t close to disappearing. The Yellow Pages list more than 30 Christian or religion-focused bookstores, many of them small outlets located inside larger churches.
In recent years, church bookstores have become the fastest growing part of Christian retailing.
Central Church in Collierville has operated its Crosswalk Bookstore for more than 25 years. Carlene Boldizar, manager since 2004, said she and two other part-time employees staff the shop and volunteers assist on Sunday mornings, especially at its coffee bar between worship services.
“The mission of the Crosswalk is to promote and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ with gifts that inspire and encourage and reflect the evangelical faith,” she said.
Boldizar said business is steady for Bibles, other books and gifts; music CDs are the only products that have significantly dropped in sales. Personal customer service is the key, she added.
“(Customers) may not know yet that the Bible has all the answers, so we pray with them and can even point them to our counseling ministry at the church,” she said.
Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova has operated a bookstore within its church building for almost 30 years. “Our store is considered a ministry of Bellevue and isn’t designed to make money, but to help people grow in their Christian faith,” said Rick Jones, store manager who formerly worked in retail operations at Target and LifeWay.
King Hussey, manager of The Bookmark Christian Bookstore at Second Presbyterian Church for 15 years, worked for Borders for 10 years. Operating a bookstore as a nonprofit ministry of the church gives him more freedom with product selection and placement.
“Secular-side publishers are bigger and have more advance marketing, while the Christian Booksellers Association side has smaller publishers that are missionoriented and their sole focus isn’t money,” he said.
The Memphis area also continues to support three denomination-based bookstores. The Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay stores (formerly Baptist Book Stores) in three locations; the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church’s Miles Bookstore in Whitehaven, and the Church of God in Christ Bookstore Downtown.
“Our bookstore is the main distribution arm for our publishing house and we see it as a service to the community,” said Leslie Stewart, marketing director of COGIC Publishing House, which has operated the COGIC Bookstore at 285 S. Main for 40 years.
“As people consume books differently, we stay current by maintaining our loyal customer base, consistently viewing trends to stay ahead or at the curve, and offering diverse products for churches.”
He said that musical materials such as choir robes, as well as communion supplies, hymnals and hundreds of versions of Bibles are strong sellers for churches and churchgoers today.
“Many people today still need a Bible and a large majority wants one to hold one in their hands and place on a bookshelf.”
Sharon Miller has worked at the COGIC Bookstore since she graduated from high school. She became the manager when her mother retired in 2000. The store can’t compete with large retailers such as Walmart that have gotten into the Christian book business. But they can provide better and more personal service.
“After 40 years of service, we remain a positive impact on lives, churches and community,” she said.
A: The older we get, the closer we get to heaven, if our faith is in Christ and His promises. And the closer we get to heaven, the more we’ll want to go there — particularly when life’s burdens press down upon us. The Apostle Paul declared, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).
Don’t feel guilty, then, about asking the Lord to take you to heaven. But don’t make that your only prayer! As long as we are on this Earth, God has His reasons for keeping us here, and we should ask Him to show us what they are. The Bible says, “The righteous will flourish. ... They will still bear fruit in old age” (Psalm 92: 12, 14).
No, you may not be able to do everything you once did, and you may find that frustrating; I sometimes do. But God isn’t finished with us until He takes us home. I often think, for example, of the countless people who have prayed for our ministry over the years (and continue to do so). Many were elderly and infirm, but countless thousands have come to Christ because of their prayers.
In addition, ask God to help you be a witness of Christ’s love and peace to those around you. The Bible says, “We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10).