Owners Steve and Janelle Pickering are closing the Parable Lemstone Christian Store of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after a quarter-century of service.

The store opened in a mall location in June 1989 as the 31st Lemstone franchise out of 73 locations.

“What a great ministry opportunity to have Christian product in the ‘crossroads of retail’ (malls),” Steve Pickering said in reflection. “[We] had many customers who had never been exposed to Christian product—a real ministry outreach in an otherwise ‘dark’ mall.”

The store also received a number of awards through the years.

“We were blessed with being named the Lemstone Franchisee of the Year three separate times,” Pickering said. “We also received the CBA Store of the Year and the Christian Retailing Store of the Year awards.”

Pickering noted that the store was the first Lemstone to move from the mall to a strip mall. Although they were cautioned that the move would not be beneficial, it came at an opportune time.

“With God's direction, in 2002, as malls were dying, we moved to a strip across the street and have been here ever since,” he said. “At that time, we tripled our space and cut our rent in half. Sales increased 15 percent in the first 12 months. We became a Parable franchise a few years later.”

During the 2008 recession, Cedar Rapids was hit with a major flood, and the store suffered.  

“Sales began falling that spring with the flood and again in the fall with the economic downturn,” Pickering said. “We renegotiated our lease, cut some staff through attrition and were praying for an upturn in the economy.”

Overall, the Internet has presented the biggest challenge.

“Internet sales are the biggest culprit for reduced sales,” Pickering said. “Music sales have dropped from almost 20 percent to 4 percent, and overall sales have dropped about 25 percent since the glory years of 2007. Yet God has provided for us in the midst of this economic catastrophe.”

"Looking back, we really miss the old Lemstone and CBA conventions,” Janelle reflected. “Seemed like it took us forever to place our orders because we were always talking and hugging the vendors."

Although the Pickerings are looking forward to retirement, there are a few things—and people—they will miss.

“We will greatly miss the local ministry opportunities, the customers and the staff,” Pickering said. “We have been blessed with longevity in our staff. Most have been with us over 10 years. We have developed many great friends in the industry and will miss that interaction as well.”

“We will miss the satisfaction of helping customers, especially when you put a Bible into the hands of a new believer," Janelle added.

She also said she is "so thankful for our staff, who have become our second family."

The store, specifically located in Marion, Iowa, has been listed for sale with a broker.

"Many of our local ministries have expressed their concern over losing our store as we have supported them with dollars and product donations for many years,” Janelle noted.  “We supported many by providing product at our cost.”

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