Revenues for Christian retail stores have recently fallen, according to leading consumer researcher Britt Beemer.

His America’s Research Group (ARG) found just 5.8% of the population visited a Christian bookstore in a survey for its bimonthly Consumer Mind Reader report for March. That was slightly down on the figure for January, and compared to 7.6% for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, March per capita spending at Christian stores was $2.61, compared to $4.58 in January and $3.35 in March 2008.

The ARG reports track the performance of 26 retail categories based on surveys of 1,000 of the general population. The biggest March slump recorded was for jewelry stores, which saw 0.5% of the population, down from 8.1% a year ago. Per capita spending there was $1.09, down from $24.32 in the same period of 2008.

Beemer—who has run ARG for the last 30 years—told USA Today that about 25% to 30% of retailer chains are likely to be forced into bankruptcy re-organization and have to “shed 30 to 40% of their stores” by year’s end.

“Discretionary spending has been down 60% to 90% in each of four months this year,” Beemer, the author of two major Christian retail studies commissioned by CBA, told Forbes magazine.

Discretionary spending was at its lowest level in 30 years, he added. “I’m really convinced that there is no discretionary spending going on right now. The only spending is replacement spending,” he said.

Meanwhile, sales of religious books saw a significant decrease of 19% in February, as all book categories slipped 12% for the month, according to the Association of American Publishers.

The month’s sales for religious books were $44.3 million, and the category’s sales were down by 12.1% for the year. Sales of religious books previously decreased 9%, 9%, 25.6%, 11.8% and 10.8% in January, last November, October, September and August, respectively.

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