Christian retail sites ‘have to be prepared to compete’ with Internet giants

Christian chain stores have been been putting an emphasis on their online presence during the past year, as  some also saw brick-and-mortar expansion.

Groups like Cokesbury and CLC Christian Bookcenters both identified the Internet rather than other physical channels as their greatest challenge for business, with leaders from both groups citing examples of customers coming into outlets to research resources before then ordering online. 

Stores, suppliers are ‘pleased’ despite the sluggish economy

 The 2010 Christmas season produced varied results for Christian retailers, publishers, distributors and suppliers. But they sounded upbeat despite a continuing sluggish economy, nearly double-digit unemployment and a snowstorm that impacted holiday sales. 

A blizzard in the Northeast postponed about $1 billion in holiday retail sales by keeping shoppers out of stores in the days after Christmas, according to mall-traffic tracker ShopperTrak. The National Retail Federation predicted sales would top $451 billion nationwide during the holiday season, close to equaling or exceeding 2007’s record year.

Publishers swoon over the category, but some retailers are cautious about embracing it

Buoyed by strong sales and growing critical acceptance, publishers are stepping up their efforts to court readers of Christian romance. While anticipating a slight peak in sales for Valentine’s Day, publishers are hoping to see heightened demand for inspirational love stories to become an all-year affair by adding new lines and upping output.

With Beth Wiseman’s An Amish Love release targeting Feb. 14, Thomas Nelson has signed four leading romance writers to collaborate on a collection of novellas that will come out ahead of Valentine’s Day 2012 with a major promotional push.

An award-winning church bookstore aims to build on a growth trend with a three-part emphasis for the coming year.

Next Step Resources at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind.—The Church Bookstore’s 2010 Small Church Bookstore of the Year—saw the first upswing in sales in a couple of years, in the last half of last year, according to Manager Susan Chipman.

The man who helped design an award-winning church bookstore has taken over the running of the operation.

Longtime design consultant Barney Paradise is the new director of resource ministries at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. The church’s Passages store was named Mid-Sized Church Bookstore of the Year for 2010 by The Church Bookstore magazine.

Paradise has assumed leadership of the bookstore ministry—which includes a location on a satellite campus and plans for another—from Bobby Williams. A former regional director of the Church Bookstore Network, Williams has been named director of Gateway Publishing Create for the growing church.

Through his own Design Identity consultancy and previous work with other design groups, Paradise has been involved in designing around 300 Christian retail and church stores. Paradise has assigned the day-to-day running of his business to two staff, but will be involved in new projects from time to time.

Paradise said that he was excited by his new role, which he was invited to consider when Williams moved to another ministry in the church.

“I think that the church bookstore is developing into the true retail ministry arm of the church,” Paradise said. “It’s making sure that the proper resources that are going to empower and edify people in their growth with Christ are getting into their hands.”

Corner Books, the bookstore at Houston’s First Baptist Church, sponsored a visit to the church by New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg during which he introduced his latest novel, The Twelfth Imam, and shared his thoughts on what he believes will happen next in the Middle East.

Following his presentation, Rosenberg took questions from the audience of nearly 1,500 and signed books.

Corner Books opened its doors in August 2009 after an extensive remodeling of what was the church’s dedicated library space. Now a blend of bookstore and library, Corner Books offers “books to borrow and books to buy” along with coffee, Wi-Fi access, messages by church Senior Pastor Gregg Matte and more.

In its first year of operations, merchandise sales were double the projected amount, and circulation among the library’s collection of more than 12,000 titles also increased dramatically.

“The mission of Corner Books is to extend the message, ministry and mission of Houston’s First,” said Jenea King, Corner Books director. “The evening with Joel Rosenberg was a perfect example of how this ministry lives that out, and we look forward to bringing in other authors who are in line with what we believe and value as a church.”

Author praises Florida church for ‘raising the bar’ in signing sessions

A church bookstore has been singled out as a model for hosting author events.

Diane Moody sang the praises of Charis Christian Bookstore after visiting the outlet at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, Fla., to promote her first book, Confessions of a Prayer Slacker (Sheaf House).

Moody contrasted the stellar effort of the store with the reception she had received elsewhere, including at a “major bookseller” in her Nashville hometown where her name was misspelled on the last-minute sign put up to promote her visit.

For most areas of the country, January tends to be a bleak weather month. So why is it that it is in this same month we must begin looking at things like taxes, yearly sales reports and the like? It just doesn’t seem fair.

The Church Bookstore Network does not have financial reports to consider, but we do try to be aware of what is happening in this channel of Christian retail. To collect some current information, I have been making hundreds of calls across the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska. Mostly I am attempting to locate those churches with stores that are open and functioning as retail outlets.

Christian Trade Association International’s (CTAI) Marketsquare Europe 2010 drew 50 Eastern European publishers, including representatives from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine. 

Held Oct. 1-2 in Oradea, Romania, the event took place just prior to the Frankfurt Book Fair for the convenience of American and other publishers who were in Europe at the time. 

Vasile Gabrian, publisher of Editura Casa Cartii, said the event “was the first international translation rights fair for Christian books ever held here.”  The event “challenged us to continue strengthening our publications,” he added. 

CTAI’s fourth Marketsquare Europe featured the 2010 European Christian Book of the Year, which recognized Redeeming Our Memory: The Story of the Romanian Pentecostals Under Communism by Vasilica Croitor, a Romanian pastor and the founder of Succeed Publishing.

Shipping containers used to start Christian stores

A missionary group has launched an innovative program of planting Christian bookstores in Africa using shipping containers—dubbed a “bookshop in a box.”

Founded in England in 1941 as Christian Literature Crusade, CLC International runs around 200 bookstores in 60 countries. CLC works with Christian Booklink—a ministry in the U.K., U.S. and Australia—which collects new and used Bibles, Christian books and other materials that are donated by publishers, churches and individuals.