According to Bill Anderson, president and CEO of the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA), independent retailers need to emphasise their strengths with wider selection, more knowledgeable employees and partnerships with local churches.
"The reality is that they have to be more competitive," he said. "How in the world do they make it up against the behemoths of Barnes & Noble and Virgin Records and Wal-Mart? You operate on your strengths."
The success of best-selling Christian titles such as The Purpose-Driven Life and the Left Behind series has unexpectedly hurt Christian bookstores by attracting the book chains and discount retailers.
Steve Gray, a Christian bookstore owner, was counting on big sales from the Left Behind series -- until Wal-Mart started selling the titles much cheaper."That hurt us big time," Gray said. "We had invested a lot into those books."
To compete against chains and big retailers, independent Christian booksellers like Gray are looking beyond books and selling music, gifts, jewellery, stationery and church supplies. Books now account for only 40 percent of sales in Christian retail stores, leading to a drop in membership at the CBA. In the early 1990s, 3,000 stores belonged to the CBA, compared to now, which are fewer than 2,300 stores.
According to CBA, around 337 Christian retailers closed last year.
"This past year was another tough one for many member stores," Anderson said. "The reality is we live in a Wal-Mart ecosystem."
