Larry Downs, vice president and publisher at Thomas Nelson's Spanish division, Grupo Nelson, has dared to venture where many fear to tread—the sometimes disputed territory between Christian bookstores and church-based stores.

He has encouraged retailers annoyed by the "unfair" competition from church stores to turn the situation around and use it for good.

Downs writes about addressing the issue at a recent conference in Argentina, where several bookstore representatives were unhappy with a church bookstore that was there because they were "convinced that the (church) was taking away customers from their stores and had hugely unfaur advantages such as rent, salaries and utilities that were all covered by the church."

Asked for his verdict, Downs advised them to "stop blaming others." In his Oct. 5 posting at http://www.larrydowns.typepad.com/english, he recounts observing that "first we blamed the Internet... then the general market for carrying 'our' books... then the mass market... what's wrong with this picture-who will we blame tomorrow?"

Downs advised the stores to "look at yourself first," and examine their business from a consumer's point of view. "Do you even want to go into your own store? Why would anyone want to buy their books anywhere else than from you?"

Rather than just be mad, Downs recommended the retailers "look to form alliances," by perhaps offering to become a branch boosktore in a local church or exchanging exclusive recommendations with an existing church store. "Instead of trying to find an external reason for why your customers are growing thinner, think of ways that you can be creative to proactively go to where the people are."

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