Christian bookshops

[bluegreysky]

I'm wondering what everyone thinks of christian bookshops/book exchanges?

There is this book exchange up for sale in my town and wondering if I bought it could make it into a ministry giving out free bibles plus having a line of christian books and other edifying books as well.

It mostly exchanging popular paperbacks - fiction at the moment. It has mills and boons. I think if bought it I would keep this line cos of the regulars and just add other genres to it, so it wouldn't be an exclusive christian bookshop but would give ppl the options to exchange/buy books that would be cheaper than going to a new bookstore and also the other bookshops do not stock local or christian titles.

Yes there are libraries but not concerned about libraries at the moment - I do have a church library and used to work in a public library.

Also thinking it would be a base to hold book clubs and do ministry, something you can't really do working in a public library cos they get funny if people tell the gospel there.

I don't know about where you're from but around here (Florida) and all over the USA and probably everywhere, bookstores are giving way to the internet. Barnes and Noble and Books A Million and those Christian bookstores are still open for business but they are seeing a huge decline and some of what keeps them afloat is their kindle sales and their online market. I think a wise investment would be something like what we have here on CF... an internet ministry. maybe instead of being so big and having so many different forums, it could be more specialized and could offer classes online like what my church does.
Every sunday, there's an hour-long class before the service and it will have a book as its structure. They just did "love and respect" for their marriage enrichment. you could offer this class via the website with maybe a "goto meeting" function (that revolutionary new service where people can work from home and dial into office meetings online) where the people call in with webcams and you all discuss a chapter and they must buy the book and read it.
This might be more lucrative then a bookstore.
As for giving away free bibles, that would add up over time. Buying them in bulk from the internet would help save money but it would be an expense that would hurt your business unless business had taken off so well that you had paid all your overhead and there was some in the bank.
The bible is also available for free online through websites like biblegateway.com

 

[Goodbook]

Oh im not after lucre.
Sorry, my thing is books. Real ones.

 

[Goodbook]

Gods Word is freely available but would not hurt my business as its is His business...if we not procliaming the gospel to those that dont have access when the internet is down..then..I dont know what we doing. May as well live on the computer. cant hug ppl though a computer or dry their tears.

 

[contango]

Sometimes a Christian bookstore will have a used books section in another room or area.

I've got a stack of Christian books that I bought stupidly cheap in a "used books" section (or others bought similarly cheap and then gave to me when they had finished with them).

OP - it's an interesting idea but you'd need to consider what counts as "make it work". If you've got a bottomless pit of money to pay the rent, pay the bills, pay whatever insurances/salaries/licences are required to do such a thing where you live, and fund all the Bibles you want to give away then it's easy to "make it work". If you're expecting to make a bookshop into a profitable business, then "make it work" is a very tough battle. It can be done but it's not as simple a matter as buying the premises and putting books on the shelves. I know people who ran a bookshop for many years, and every year they wondered whether they'd be able to keep the doors open for another year.

Another question is just what sort of outlet you want. If you want it to be a Christian shop/exchange do you really want trashy secular titles in there, and if it's a book exchange that just happens to include a few Christian titles where would you draw the line and say a particular title is unacceptable? If you're allowing what some might call "steamy fiction", how steamy can it get before you consider it pornographic and reject it? How far from Christian values could a book stray in other areas before you threw it out - for example would you accept a copy of the Qu'ran, or the Gita, or the Satanic Bible? What about something like The God Delusion, or Neale Donald Walsh's "Conversations With God" series? Or maybe Aleister Crowley's "Magick in Theory and Practice"?

I can see why you might be reluctant to take a successful venue (although one might ask why it's available if it is successful) and turn it into an exclusive little Christian huddle in a way that will alienate the current clientele, but at the same time it's worth considering what message it sends if you give someone a free Bible to take away with their lightly used copy of the Kama Sutra.

 

[contango]

Of course another threat to bookshops is the rise of charity/thrift/goodwill stores. Only yesterday I bought six books for $2 at the local thrift store. All were in pretty decent condition. At that kind of price any bookshop, even including Amazon, can only compete on the basis that they can offer/order me any book I want rather than the books they happen to have on the shelves.

 

[bluegreysky]

Internet trade is still real books. You buy/sell them and they arrive in packages on your doorstep or someone else's.
My dad is a member of an internet book club where people trade books for other books and he makes friends online like we all do on here.
Maybe this is more what you're thinking of?

 

[contango]

Internet trade is still real books. You buy/sell them and they arrive in packages on your doorstep or someone else's.
My dad is a member of an internet book club where people trade books for other books and he makes friends online like we all do on here.
Maybe this is more what you're thinking of?

That's an interesting idea. For myself where used books are concerned I like to see them before buying them simply because some people look after books better than others.

I still remember the time I lent a book I'd had for years but was still almost pristine to a friend, and after a couple of weeks they returned it looking so dog-eared I had to wonder whether it was even the same copy. They saw nothing wrong - it was a used book after all - so I just made a mental note not to lend that friend any more books.

 

[BFine]

We're downsizing and we have lots of Christian books
of all genres... where should I send them?
Any takers?

 

[Goodbook]

send them here!
Or to churches that need them.
well of course, if I actually had a house of my own I'd have books in every room of the house. As it is, it's in my home town were people go out to you know, meet people face to face. And browse the books, and touch them.

There are internet book clubs I'm already apart of - this is something else.

 

[BFine]

The churches here have their sources, if you're trying
to do a trading books thingy, I can ship you a box of books...
I use to do this for a friend who lived in another country before
she went AWOL.

 

[Goodbook]

Would it be really expensive for you though? Books are heavy...what could I trade you in exchange? PM me

I was on this internet thing called bookmooch, but cos of the exchange rate, I sent out a lot of books and got hardly any back, and the cost of sending them overseas just about broke my bank...so it was easier to just donate them to the sallies.
Actually did that today for a friend of mine having a clear out. At least when they sell them, the money goes to the poor and ministry.
I have worked in op shop before but they sell more things than just books

 

[BFine]

Goodbook, we ship stuff to the USA, Indonesia and soon
it will be Australia and the Middle East ...several of our family
members have really spread out over the last few years...
we have several missionaries in the family now.

I can send a box of books to you for your project and do it as a charitable donation,
we give books, movies, clothing, food to local shelters also.
Since they are limited on space, they can't take in a lot of books...we have
books packed away in our crawlspace, bedrooms, closets -
seriously, we would be glad to donate books to you or anyone
else on here who'd like Christian books or dvds.

 

[BFine]

If your address is different than the one I currently have, just
PM me the address you'd like the books shipped to OK?

 

[Goodbook]

Yep its still the same!
Thank you so much!
I look forward to recieving them.

 

[bottledwater]

send them here!
Or to churches that need them.
well of course, if I actually had a house of my own I'd have books in every room of the house. As it is, it's in my home town were people go out to you know, meet people face to face. And browse the books, and touch them.

There are internet book clubs I'm already apart of - this is something else.

Goodbook, call your bookstore "Pilgrims Books". I used to get all of my book there. But, they are now gone. The woman that ran the place was an old spinster, and she told me that she would get most of her books from estate sales.
I get mine from the Salvation Army Thrift Stores. Actually I can take an entire day and just go around to everyone of the Thrift Stores and I usually make out like a bandit.
Godspeed sister

 

[Goodbook]

Hmm..good name.
Although remember there used to be a bookstore in town called pathfinders but that also sold new age self help type books.

I asked the owner about the name which has always been leisure time book exchange, but nothing to stop me from changing it. She said it used to get mixed up with Leisure time spa pools. I have to wait till my friend sees the shop as, its not going ahead if just on my own, spinster I may be.

 

[parsley]

One thing I like about your concept -- Christianity has been presented so loudly via media, that people seem to need a return to quiet contemplation and discovery. It's hard to get that sense of discovery when watching a TV show. But combing through bookstores to find gems...that is a personal journey, for sure.

 

[Goodbook]

Now I have a whole heap of books friends have given me and no bookshop. Theres a book exchange in the next suburb that volunteers run in the former library that the council shut down...so maybe i just take them there..and said I would help but I just hadnthad the time, its open a few hours about three times a week and mostly retired people go there to do crafts, so why dont I just do that?
Also free parking.

But..I guess part of me wants to be like an owner and have a collection of really good books and talk books not just something to while away the time with old folk and evrery kind of book that gets donated. And maybe Id like to earn a living at it too. why do retired folk have all the fun?! The get pension and can work as well. Us young folk get nothing have to work twice as hard, have loans, and got no housing unless we stay at home with parents. I want to cry no fair, but then thats just complaining.

 

[Goodbook]

They also found it easy to have job cos jobs plentiful back then. Not so now. And dont say im acting like entitled brat.,its not that. Also, if you have medical issues. Employers will just dismiss you. So its not easy, even with qualifications (mostly, useless).

 

[parsley]

Actually jobs were not always plentiful. There were many waves of low employment that retired people survived.

My grandfather lost two retirement packages-- one when his long-time employer shut down. And then their property was declared part of a toxic area where no one was allowed to live. My dad was more fortunate, but had mandatory early retirement. My generation had more unemployment in the early years but for some it never got better bc companies saved money by hiring part time.

It's scary when you face the inability to be hired again, huge medical expenses, potentially expensive housing when needing increased care... many elderly have to sign away the value of their house to cover nursing home care. Quality of life declines, and declines... in the US, social security coverage (we pay into) is similar to the cost of monthly rent. Without utilities, grocery, clothes, and other expenses. So people have to work as much as they can.

From what I hear, your location is not the best for employment opportunities, and I think you've brought that up before. Catch the brass ring while you can!