 Stores urged to
hang in and change up as market continues to alter, group launches children’s
focus
Retailers attending Munce Group’s CPE (Christian Product
Expo) in Hershey, Pa., held Jan 16-18, were not just given ideas and tools for
staying the course in an increasingly tough business climate, but cheered on
for doing so. Representatives of the 130-odd
stores registered for the event—open to non-members of the marketing group—were
challenged to press on in inspirational addresses by the event’s two keynote
speakers. Addressing the CPE banquet via a
live Internet connection after family illness prevented her from traveling,
author Anne Graham Lotz acknowledged that many stores were facing hard times,
as she spoke about the promise of heaven. “It may be that you barely squeak by here on earth
financially, but you will have an abundant inheritance in heaven because you
have been laying up treasures there,” she said. Earlier, at the pre-show Bible
Conference, author Keith Johnson had encouraged attendees who might be facing
business challenges to be renewed in their commitment to their ministry. Drawing lessons from the Gen. 32 account of Jacob’s
wrestling with God, the founder of Biblical Foundations Academy traced how
Christians may have to move from fear and feeling forsaken to exercising faith
and fighting. “They could then ... see God’s favor as others found Him,” he
said. Exhorting retailers to embrace the
idea that they were more than simply Christian booksellers, but were
“ambassadors of the amazing and heralds of hope,” Johnson asked: “What is the
main change that needs to take place inside of you? What is the name that He
wants to change inside of you?” Munce Group President Kirk Blank
said that the messages and other ministry at the event—including singer Nicole
C. Mullen performing songs from her forthcoming release, Captivated (Word
Records/Word Distribution)—had been “a great reminder to stores of their
calling” and for them to “be open to how the Lord is leading them to change
what they need to to adapt to what is happening in the marketplace.” Marking its 20th anniversary in
2011, Munce Group has 512 member-stores, nearly 400 of which serve their zip
code and five surrounding square miles exclusively, Blank said. “In this crazy
economy, what we have found is that our small- to medium-sized stores have been
the most consistent and the most steady.” Among new services for stores highlighted
at the show was a new catalog focused on children’s products, offering an
alternative to general market school catalogs that included materials some
parents might be unhappy about. Following a test run with 20 stores last fall,
a catalog featuring around 40 products was to be made available in February,
Blank said. In addition to an exhibition floor
with more than 60 suppliers—up from last year—CPE Hershey featured workshops,
discussion groups and the premiere screening of Courageous, the follow-up
to the hit movie Fireproof, which is due out in theaters at the end of
September. Special guests included musician
Michael Card, Amish-fiction writer Cindy Woodsmall and her co-author of Plain
Wisdom, Miriam Flaud—a member of an Old Order Amish community. Eunice Shreffler, owner of the
Olive Branch in Clarion, Pa., was at the show to learn about new products from
the 60-plus exhibitors and to connect with other retailers. “You get to meet
with others who share about their stores,” she said. “We just build each other
up. It’s very encouraging.” Stephen Kozeletz from the Christian Literature Center in
East Northport, N.Y., said that the workshops had been very beneficial. “There
are a lot of ideas we exchange with each other.” And “we like being able to see
the products. A lot of times when you look at it on the computer, it looks
great, but it’s not.”
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