Family Christian Retail Stores Closing
Offline I just saw this today in the USA Today - Is it Online Sales? Or loss of believers? It was in business 85 years with 240 stores in 36 states. Perhaps less demand for Christian themed merchandise?
www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/02/23/retail-chain-family-christian-plans-after-85-years/98326140/
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
- Login to post comments
Interesting. Probably a mixture of both, but any issues competing with online sales would stem from an inability to engage with the younger generations and develop online sales of their own; so I'm sure the root cause is less demand. The older customers are slowly dying off and not being replaced.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I think it is amazing they were in business for 85 years. However, I think less people are all gushy over jesus and religion. I've seen a shift in people in my area who are not going to church as much. I see churches in the area doing recruiting drives. They have these social functions trying to get people to come to their events so they can feed them bullshit about their religion.
i used to visit family christian now and then, back when i was a believer. hell, i'll still walk into one on a boring day at a shopping center while waiting for others to finish. a christian bookstore is better than no bookstore, imo. but even when i was a christian, i rarely bought anything there what wasn't on clearance, as it's well known that christian bookstores in general are outrageously expensive, sometimes selling a book for $10 or more over the price you'd pay at B&N. now that the internet has made it so easy to find and buy used books for dirt cheap, the writing is on the wall for those places (to use a biblical metaphor--ha!). i'm just surprised they outlasted borders all those years. god, i miss borders. it was so much better than B&N. i mean, i rarely buy books retail unless i'm traveling in a couple days or something and just can't wait, but it was a great place to browse.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Less believers was my 1st thought followed by Amazon and eBooks.
As B & N is about the last brick and mortar book store other than small independents I agree it's likely both online and older believers dyning off leaving younger ones. Younger people both do online and are more skeptical in general.
And I always push those that are skeptical to question everything.
PS- I just noticed today was my 9th year anniversary with RRS.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
I forgot about Amazon. They destroy everyone.
i think books-a-million is still in business, though maybe reduced. the old location in naples, fl, i used to visit religiously as a child every time we vacationed there is now gone, i noticed last summer. i was bummed out.
afaic, all the old mall bookstores like waldenbooks and b. dalton deserved to go down. they always were piles of shit.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
You don't have Coles/Chapters?
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I used to get many history books at B Daltons and Waldens - I'm a history nut at heart, if you remember any of my forum discussions with believers I used that against them. Now I have to search harder to find them. There is a B & N several miles away, but it sucks too.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Not in Colorado - just B & N and small independents.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
I like reading and learning from history. I just got done watching Ken Burns: Civil War. I'm sad it is over. I really enjoyed it.
Oh and all the books stores here closed, even books millions closed.
i guess i was a bit unfair to waldenbooks. they weren't so bad. but every b. dalton i ever went to (and i mean back in the '90s) was terrible. i also remember media play. my aunt used to take us there whenever we'd visit her in TN and i got a lot of great books there. i think they're loooong gone though.
i get almost all my books off the net now, from amazon marketplace, bookdepository, and abebooks (my favorite source; if you find an out-of-print book on amazon marketplace for some outrageous price, chances are you can find it on abebooks for a reasonable one). sometimes even ebay comes in handy.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I'll have to check out abebooks, thanks.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.