A Christian publisher in Canada has issued an S.O.S.—save our stores—appeal for help in ensuring the survival of Christian bookstores in the country.

Having seen almost 50 Canadian stores close in the past 18 months, Larry Willard, publisher of Castle Quay Books in Pickering, Ontario, has partnered to open a Toronto-area retail outlet and urged Christians to give such businesses their support.

Though Christian stores need a new business model, "they need Christians to help them survive," Willard writes in the November-December issue of Evangelical Christian magazine. "Nothing replaces the vast selection of the traditional dedicated Christian bookstore."

Willard says that "in saving a few dollars, we left our traditional Christian institutions in jeopardy," describing the slew of closures--including one-time leading chains Blessings Christian Marketplace and R.G. Mitchell's Family Books--as a "bookstore tsunami."

Disputing the idea that Christian bookstore were obsolete, Willard opened Family Family Books & Gifts in Scarborough, earlier this year. "We are ready for a new model of Christian retailing," he writes. "They must make the customer's experience as exciting and inexpensive as possible.

"I am not recommending that you forget about getting a good and fair deal and just pay anything to keep your Christian retailer in business," he says. "I just ask that you give them a chance."

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