A special workshop for newcomers to the growing church bookstore movement has been added to the Christian products industry's new Orlando, Fla.-area winter event to be held in January 2009.

The daylong "Managing a Successful Church Bookstore" event will be held Jan. 6 at The Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Fla., preceding The Gathering 2009 at the same venue, Jan. 7-9.

The prospective church store training will be led by Heidi Bodette, a regional director of the Church Bookstore Network and recipient of the 2007 Church Bookstore Manager of the Year award from The Church Bookstore magazine, a supplement of Christian Retailing magazine.

The program will cover everything from planning and budgeting to design, layout and customer service. Michelle Amster, president of store design firm Integra Interactive, will also speak.

Sponsored by Christian Retailing, The Gathering 2009 replaces the annual Gathering of Church Bookstores, founded in 2005 to specifically serve church bookstores, with additional special focus elements for inspirational gift and other Christian retailers.

"More and more churches are interested in establishing stores to serve their congregations with Christian materials," said Dave Condiff, Christian Retailing publisher. "But many times we are finding they do not necessarily have the retail background and experience that is required.

"We want to help churches save themselves trouble and ensure that they invest their resources wisely by helping them get things right from the start," Condiff added. "We do that through the pages of The Church Bookstore, and this special training day provides an opportunity to learn a lot from some of the best in the industry in one day."

Further training sessions will be presented during The Gathering, which will also feature fellowship, inspiration and an exhibition area with around 100 suppliers. For more information, click here or call 800-283-8494.

• Prev
• Next