Saturday, March 21, 2009

Faith 'n Fiction Saturday: Christian Bookstores

Today's Question:
While books and bookstores in general are suffering, Christian bookstores are suffering even more in this economy. Do you have a Christian bookstore that you shop at? Why don't you tell us about your local Christian bookstore and the benefits that if offers. If you don't shop at a Christian bookstore, then please tell us where you get your books, music, and other Christian gift items.

Amy, this is a thoughtful and timely question. The bookstore in my area is a family owned store named The Lighthouse. They carry gift items and clothing, music and church supplies, books and bibles. It's not a huge store, but the family has been in the area a long time and is well thought of. People shop there out of respect and pay a little more instead of going to the larger chain stores in the area.

I spoke to the owner of the store not long ago, and he was genuinely concerned about continuing in the area because so many are not spending money on gift items, books ect...The store keeps a bargain corner that they use to move items that haven't sold well at retail, and I noticed the last time I was there that it was overflowing with fiction. The retail fiction section is much smaller than it used to be, and to get particular items you have to get the store to special order.

I have to be honest though...as much as I know the importance of soliciting local retailers, like everyone else, I will shop online or in the bargain corner to save a few bucks. Spending on extra "stuff", be it books, restaurant meals or trips out of town are being cut from the budget. It is survival mode at my house.

I hope we will all be in diligent prayer for our local Christian stores. For our pastors. For our church leaders. I hope we will all beseech God on behalf of our nation. I hope our blogs will be beacons of light in a dark time. The road before us in uncertain, and we must trust God as never before.

To see other answers to this great Saturday question, please visit Amy's blog. Have a great weekend!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your very thoughtful and prayerful answer. Mine is up at Free Spirit-

http://tinyurl.com/darrwp

Nise' said...

As a former small business owner, I will frequent my local shops to support their business as much as I can!

Amy said...

I have also noticed that the fiction section seems to be shrinking in the Christian bookstores...it's sad to me.

Sunny said...

Yes! I also want to support the local Christian bookstores but it's so hard for everyone right now. I do what I can, when I can but these days it's not much.