When I was young, I used to love to go to my local Christian bookstore, browse the many books, and buy some. Reading those books was one of my main ways to develop as a Christian. It broadened my perspective rather than only being taught at my church. One particular independent Christian bookstore I frequented was owned by a guy who had some sons, and we all used to discuss theology together.
Twenty years ago, there were 7,000 Christian bookstores in the U.S. Now, there are only 1,800, and this number continues to dwindle. I wrote a post about this problem back 2.5 years ago entitled “What a Pity: No More Christian Bookstores.” It has not been happening because Christianity is in some sort of big decline in this country. Yes, Pew Research says the number of Americans who claim to be “Christian” has been reduced in recent years. But that reduction only amounts to a little less than ten percent. The large majority of adult Americans still claim to be “Christian,” and about half of all adult Americans say they attend church at least once per month.
Of course, a big reason for this demise of Christian bookstores is amazon.com. This online juggernaut started out only selling books online. Yet, after just over twenty years, it has driven all sorts of brick-and-mortar retail stores, that have been selling just about everything, out of business. But this severe competition meant that Christian bookstore owners needed to think outside the box and therefore innovate, and it seems they didn’t do that very well.
In that post I wrote, I suggested some of the main things Christian bookstores didn’t do that would have helped them survive. Here is my list in brief:
- meet the needs of single people, not just families
- hold Christian author speaking events, especially local and independent authors
- stage debates about topics that interest Christians, including theology
- promote these events with flyers, etc., which involves little expense
One of the biggest problems in Christian ministry is church denominationalism. Christian bookstores could help churches break out of their enclaves and become more relevant and ecumenical.
Plus, I believe all churches that have narrow theological beliefs should have to defend them in the Christian marketplace just like Christians should do with their message of Jesus to the world marketplace of ideas. As I say in that post, “most churches get too narrow in their theology. . . .Something like a Christian bookstore would offer a neutral location for doing this.” I think debates can help that situation.
This month’s Christianity Today, the leading Christian magazine in the U.S., has another article about this subject. It is entitled, “Christian Booksellers’ Defiant New Chapter.” It says some Christian bookstore owners are starting to get the message even though the big chains, such as Family Christian and LifeWay Christian with their hundreds of bookstores, have gone out of business.
This article quotes experts saying such things as, “Christian bookstores have to accept that Amazon will beat them on price and offer something else: events, community, and curated content;” “make your store a special place, . . . where people want to come for advice, to spend time. Your store is a special refuge.”
The article concludes that Christian bookstores need to “provide a personalized experience.” Some experts advise bookstores to have a social media presence. Some of these experts have been saying things like this for over a decade, but it seems not many were listening. Now, an important front that Christians had for many decades has largely been lost.
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