Does anyone own a Christian Book Store?

**homemaker66** · 06-06-2011, 08:13 PM

I have a friend who wants my DH and I open a Christian bookstore in our area. Right now we are taking a poll to see what the public thinks of this idea. If there is someone who has their own business I would really like some input from you. I am clueless where to even to begin but I am always up for a challange. I know that there is one bookstore over a hour away from me and it is hard for people to drive there. I feel it would be a great thing but I don't know where to find vendors to buy the supplies from. I would love to hear from my Frugal Villiage Family on this one. So please put in any kind of input for me. GOD BLESS.

**pollypurebred39** · 06-06-2011, 08:25 PM

http://ctaintl.com/Opening%20a%20Chr...0Bookstore.pdf

http://www.stl-distribution.com/new_store/

Thomas Nelson Named The Church Bookstore Vendor of the Year | Christian Industry News | FrontGate Media

I have two books on logos, art marketing kind of stuff if you want them. I'll send them to you for free.

**homemaker66** · 06-06-2011, 08:38 PM

Thank you for the great information. This means a lot to me.

**pollypurebred39** · 06-06-2011, 08:48 PM

You're welcome

**MaryCarney** · 06-07-2011, 08:24 AM

(My opinion only - 'cause that what you said you wanted)

The first sentence of your post is VERY telling - a FRIEND wants YOU to open a bookstore. You don't seem like it's some passion, or even an interest of yours. Why did the friend pick you? Why don't THEY open a business?

Just some thoughts.......

**zakity** · 06-07-2011, 03:13 PM

What she said...

And, if you do open one up, look into having homeschool curriculum in it. One of ours around here had a huge homeschooling curriculum area and someone bought it and they took it out. I know a lot of religious families bought from that store because it was a "Christian" store.

**monkeywrangler71** · 06-07-2011, 03:20 PM

A book store is a risky business at the best of times. Having one that only specializes in one area may not be viable at all.

I would tread very carefully with this idea.

**brennasmom** · 06-07-2011, 04:57 PM

Seems like it might be a tough go in this economy.

**homemaker66** · 06-07-2011, 05:05 PM

Thank you for the input from everyone. My DH and I also thinks it is a good idea to open one. I have been praying about it the answer will come in its own time. For now I am doing researching, reading and going to keep waiting for the right answer. GOD BLESS

**Missy** · 06-07-2011, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by homemaker66

Thank you for the input from everyone. My DH and I also thinks it is a good idea to open one. I have been praying about it the answer will come in its own time. For now I am doing researching, reading and going to keep waiting for the right answer. GOD BLESS

Just a suggestion, you certainly should do what you feel led to, but, If you do, expand your base a little by doing what Zakity suggested, add a homeschool curric area as well. It'll draw in another customer base.

**nuisance26** · 06-07-2011, 09:07 PM

~You need to consult the local churches and see what the demand is like and what they want they're looking for.
Maybe you could start with in home parties like Tupperware to get your feet wet with selling.
If you find some success move on to a flea market booth. You will need to promote your booth with local churches and homeschool and religious groups.
My honest opinion is that I like browsing Bible Book stores but I rarely purchase. Everything is marked up to much to cover the cost of keeping a store. Why would I pay $15 for a book at a store that I can get for less than $10 online? I've seen all the Christian bookstores in our area close.
How about having an online store? You could have stock on hand or be a distributor.
You could also deal in primarily used books. Get a list of best-sellers from somewhere like Christian Book Distributors and start acquiring them used. Websites like Half.com allow you to choose your own price and condition of books and when a seller list one meeting your criteria it is automatically completes the transaction and the seller ships your book. You can build a collection cheap this way.
You can also ask for free Christian books on Freecycle and Craigslist to build your stock.
I've always wanted to have a Christian book library. Is that something you might be interested in? You wouldn't even need a physical location to browse at. You just keep the books organized somewhere and keep a database online. Then you just deliver books for pick-up at churches, community centers, fairs, etc. You could even just rotate boxes of books at each place without having people 'order'' them. It'd be like a book-of-the-month club for churches.~

**homemaker66** · 06-07-2011, 09:39 PM

Thank you for more great ideas there is a lot to think about. Keep praying I guess.

**wanderlusting** · 06-08-2011, 04:08 PM

I agree with nuisance- I like to browse the shop but I buy most of my books on Amazon because it's usually always cheaper and I get free shipping.

I like the idea of having Christian homeschool curriculum for sale. I know if I homeschooled, I would love to be able to physically look at the stuff before I bought it.

**Judi Dial** · 06-08-2011, 04:40 PM

Okay. I never OWNED a Christian bookstore, however I did work for a bookstore that was a member of the Christian Bookseller's Association.

Assuming you want to sell new and not used books, there are a few basic places you can get information:

American Booksellers Association

Whether you are buying/selling beca textbooks, bibles, or best sellers, there are some fundamentals to running a bookstore that won't change. The ABA used to have a prospective booksellers' school and a booksellers' school, I do not know if they offer either these days, as I haven't been a member for over 10 years.

For Christian bookselling, here's that association too, although it seems they've changed their name slighly:

CBA :: The Association for Christian Retail

The American Booksellers Association (first link above) used to have specialty directories available of their members. It wouldn't probably be profitable to open a new bookstore down the street from an established bookstore with an emphasis in religious books, probably. Find out what each of the two organizations have re opening a new bookstore.

Two or three things I can tell you for sure: 1) Selling new books is frequently a cash-flow business, you buy books for cash, you return books (or return stripped covers) for credit, and the credit is applied to the newest invoice, not the oldest. You have to be able to come up with the cash to pay that old bill.

Bibles and classics have a longer shelf life than other material, but even in religious books there is a time where the stock needs to be replaced/refurbished. Think about this and how you'll pay for it up front.

If your sales start out really well, don't count on them continuing that way. Plan for your worst case scenario, not the world is coming up roses.

I don't know if this is true for religious bookstores or not, but it IS true for general bookstores: 60% of annual sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. That's 60% of what you make for the YEAR.

IHTH!

Judi