With Christian books now sold in all kinds of general retail outlets, the past several years have been tough on independent Christian retailers. Hundreds of stores have sold out to one of the growing Christian chains. Outgoing CBA chairman Chris Childers sold his family’s Macon Christian Bookstore in Macon, Ga., to the Berean chain in March—just one of the many longtime Christian retailers deciding not to continue going it alone. Many other less viable stores have simply gone under. Though no one knows exactly how many Christian stores there are in the U.S., CBA has reported declining membership numbers over the past several years, and there appear to be fewer than 1,000 independents left.
The Christian indies that survive are those that find the capital to upgrade their stores to meet the expectations of more sophisticated consumers, to improve their business systems and to achieve every possible efficiency. Stores must also manage debt well, and it helps to own their real estate. To survive, many Christian indies have banded together to increase their purchasing power and get services they don’t have the time or money to obtain on their own, such as catalogue production, building a Web presence and securing insurance. They’ve done this by joining “marketing groups” or by buying into franchise arrangements.
Scott MacDonald is president and CEO of Insight Retail Group, which recently changed its name from Lemstone to reflect the three types of businesses now under its corporate umbrella—franchises (Lemstone Christian Stores), church bookstore affiliates (Church Bookstore Solutions) and other retail affiliates (Insight Retail Associates). The company, which currently has 20 franchisees and seven affiliates, was the first to operate Christian stores as franchises in major shopping malls and strip malls.
MacDonald said Christian stores need to group themselves in some way to achieve the “buying metrics” necessary to compete in today’s marketplace. “Insight buys for our stores, affiliates as well as franchisees,” he said. “Our staff meets with vendors, evaluates their new product offerings and makes buying recommendations, which saves stores a lot of time.” The company designates preferred vendors for its stores, thereby increasing its purchasing power. In addition to the buying system, the stores can take advantage of Insight’s operations and computer systems and training programs.
Steve Pickering, owner of a Lemstone store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been a franchisee for 19 years. “Before I decided to go into this business I did some study and discovered that nine out of 10 franchises were still in business after 10 years, which was not true for independents,” he said. “[Buying into a franchise] keeps you from making a lot of mistakes as you are starting up, and the ongoing tech support, suggested buys for the holidays and financial advantages with vendors are a big help.”
Two of the primary Christian marketing groups are Parable and Munce. Both offer member stores a menu of services, and there are Web sites, chat rooms, message boards and newsletters to enable retailers to communicate, move product between stores and share information.
Members pay no annual fees, purchasing services à la carte after certain minimums for participation—such as promotions and stocking product—are met. Parable, with 118 member stores, requires stores to sign a one-year exclusive membership agreement, which can be canceled with 30 days’ notice; Munce requires only that its 600 member stores purchase its two primary catalogues of the dozen or so it produces each year.
“Perhaps the most important thing a store can do is to mail a catalogue to their customers at least six times a year,” said Munce Group president Bob Munce. Ad dollars from publishers subsidize many of the services to Munce members, he said. Any appearance of a product in a Munce catalogue is an ad; the same is true of Parable. And both groups offer exclusives and proprietary products, as well as help with in-store merchandising.
A unique offering of the Munce Group is its trade shows. Since 2001, Munce has held a members-only show, Christian Products Expo, in Nashville each September. When the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association terminated its winter trade shows in 2006, Munce took them over, renamed them the CPE Regionals, and now does two each January. Those shows are also open to nonmembers.
Margaret Umble, who owns J.O.Y. Bookstore in Sinking Spring, Pa., calls the CPEs “extremely valuable. The opportunity to meet with vendors is important, but the main thing is that it gives us a community—we meet to share ideas, learn what’s working and support each other.” She also appreciates that Munce membership allows her to maintain her own brand identity while getting the services she needs.
Parable, founded more than 20 years ago, was the first Christian marketing group, but today the company is moving in a new direction: “We believe the future for independent retailers lies in franchising,” said president Steve Potratz. “While we still offer services of a typical marketing group, Parable is a franchiser first.”
Parable created its franchise program in 2004, to provide “more comprehensive business services and greater brand recognition,” said Potratz. Sixty-three stores across the country have converted to Parable franchises, and the first brand-new Parable Christian Store opened this month in Arnold, Mo., with more slated in the coming year.
Insight and Parable both offer turnkey operations, computer systems and training programs, and both Potratz and MacDonald cite branding and an upgraded and consistent retail experience for customers as key benefits of franchising. “The customer experience today is defined by Starbucks,” said MacDonald. “Consumers expect that level of service, training of employees and consistency. I’m not saying that all Christian stores need to be the same, but too many Christian stores don’t offer anything up to that level of consumer expectation.”
Added Potratz, “By uniting together under a common brand and common business system, independent retailers can improve customer awareness, develop operational efficiencies and share resources.”
Lee Andrews manages Potter’s House Parable Christian Store in Valdosta, Ga., which is owned by Cherie Gregory, who affiliated with Parable about 10 years ago and was one of the first adopters when franchising became available. “There are so many benefits—the advertisements, the buying power, the exclusive products—it would have been foolish not to do it in the changing market,” said Andrews. “Gathering data, marketing research, advertising, maintaining lists and doing mailings—so much of that is done for us.” He added that the Parable branding “helps the stores look more uniform and professional in presentation.”
Despite all the changes that are occurring in the Christian retailing market, Bob Munce sees positives signs: “The loss of customer count seems to have stabilized,” and stores are relocating, remodeling, expanding and purchasing others to have multiple locations. “Some stores are doing better than ever.” But, Munce added, “you really cannot rejoice when many of your fellow Christian booksellers are still struggling.”
