The Death of the Christian Bookstore

[bookslover]

Two of my favorite Christian bookstores here in southern California - In Christ Books in Santa Fe Springs, and Archives Bookshop in Pasadena - have closed their doors for good less than two years apart (Archives had been around for 40 years). And, of course, the Lifeway chain has gone under, as well (I know, I know: but, if you knew where to look, those stores actually had some good books in them).

A good question to ask: are Christian bookstores closing at a faster rate than their secular counterparts? And, if they are, is it for more reasons than just a combination of high rents and the power of Dr. Amazon?

 

[J.EdwardNewhill]

About a year ago, the only reformed Christian book store in my city closed down because the owner was moving out of the state. There is another Christian book store in town, but it is mixed bag theologically. It's so sad to see them go!

 

[ZackF]

In Wichita proper we used to have 4 major bookstores. We’re down to one now. Secular bookstores are being hit as hard I’d say.

 

[Jack K]

This is an economics question, so you have to ask yourself what value a bookstore brings to the process. As I see it, in the days before online sellers, there were three main points of value a bookstore could claim:

(1) Physically connecting books with customers at a reasonable price.
(2) Allowing customers to browse books.
(3) Vetting books and making recommendations.

Brick-and-mortar sellers are going away because online sellers can do every one of these value-added activities better:

(1) Although there is some shipping time lag, online sellers excel at physically delivering books to customers because of the vast number of titles they can stock and the fact that the customer never has to leave home.
(2) Although not being able to physically handle a book is a drawback, online sellers excel in other ways at allowing customers to browse because they offer searchability, easier comparison shopping within both topic and author, and more privacy.
(3) Unless there was a local bookseller you really trusted, the online world offers better vetting and recommendations because shoppers can find a bookseller that more precisely fits their theological niche.

So, brick-and-mortar booksellers either have to be exceptionally good at one of the value-added activities above, or they have to excel at some other added value like the "bookshop experience"—which is not easy to do. A fair number of books are still sold through churches and at conferences because churches and conferences excel at (3), being seen as a trustworthy source for vetting and recommending books. Large conferences can also create huge exhibit halls that allow many more titles than a typical bookshop has space for and can put them in front of customers who are already out of the house and have time to kill, providing good value in terms of (1), physically connecting books with customers. But the Christian bookshop at the mall doesn't have many advantages anymore.

 

[Edward]

A good question to ask: are Christian bookstores closing at a faster rate than their secular counterparts?

But I wonder if that is even true. While the selection is narrower, many of the megachurches have bookstores catering to the niche that they are serving. So I would suspect that the raw number of Christian bookstores is decreasing more slowly that the number of broadmarket bookstores.

 

[David Taylor]

Just from what I have seen, it seems that they are closing at about the same rate as their secular counterparts.

 

[GulfCoast Presbyterian]

We had two Christian (charismatic mainly) book stores in our town, and no "secular" bookstores. In the last two years, both the Christian stores have closed. I used to try and buy a few things from them (gift bibles and such), and they both told me they could not compete with the online sellers.

 

[Jonathco]

These are just my thoughts on this, but certainly the internet and places like Amazon have aided in putting small Christian bookstores out of business. I can get nearly any new or used book I am looking for, at excellent prices, from around the globe. But I think there are other big contributors to the decline of bookstores (both Christian and secular):

1. Fewer and fewer young people read books today. As a leader of a young adult small group at my church, I can sadly confirm that few of them read books unless they are required for school. We have reached a time in society where attention spans are far too short and unless it can be read in short posts on social media, the "under 25" group is largely uninterested. *Please note I am not speaking in absolutes about everyone under 25 - just a general observation.
2. Specific to Christian books, so many churches today promote the "no creed but Christ" mantra, where reading theologically rich books is looked down upon, that I think we must consider whether this also plays into the decline of Christian bookstores.

Fortunately, places like https://www.heritagebooks.org/, https://www.wtsbooks.com/,https://banneroftruth.org/us/, and https://press.founders.org/ have kept me well supplied with excellent material and an empty wallet!

 

[Jack K]

Fewer and fewer young people read books today.

That's possible. But even if it is true, it is not creating a decline in Christian book sales. Rather, religious book sales in the U.S. have been healthily increasing over the last several years. And contrary to popular suspicion, print books remain strong, accounting for about 75% of revenues. E-books have tapered off, while audio books show the strongest growth. Today's believers remain hungry to learn and will buy Christian books.

However, there is some research to suggest that although people clearly are buying more Christian books than ever, they aren't actually reading them or are becoming more likely never to finish a book they start. My guess is that a glut of well-marketed but poorly written, shallow Christian books is as much to blame as is a change in reading habits.