Big Retailers Drive Out Bible Shops

kmccook writes “‘Big business wins,’ she said. ‘It always does, you know.’

Tampa Tribune. January 27, 2005.”

January 28, 2005 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. GregS* says:
    January 28, 2005 at 5:40 am

    public wins
    “Mass-market retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy have discovered Veggie Tales videos, the “Left Behind” blockbuster novel series and Christian rock group Third Day, just to name a few. The spirituality section at Barnes & Noble Booksellers has grown from a few shelves to several racks; stop in at Sam’s Club and see a wide selection of Bibles. “

    I think a lot of Christians are happy to see faith-based products on regular shelves and not relegated to an obscure side-shop.

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  2. cchp says:
    January 28, 2005 at 9:19 am

    Re:public wins
    “I think a lot of Christians are happy to see faith-based products on regular shelves and not relegated to an obscure side-shop.”

    The “big-box” stores are not known for their expertise in literature; who will help the customers when they are looking for something specific? Oh- I know- the library!

    Reply
  3. deborah says:
    January 28, 2005 at 8:20 pm

    until the fad changes

    It depends, though. When the fad changes, and Christian materials are no longer popular as mainstream, all of the independent retailers will have been put out of business, and those who have been purchasing the materials all along and before they became trendy will have nowhere to get what they need. (Until the next wave of stores opens.) Additionally, the major retailers are going to be concentrating on materials from major distributors — the Left Behind books, for example. Local retailers are often the only market available for the tiny press local books so prevalent in religious publishing.

    (Disclaimer: I’m hypersensitive to this because it happened to my family. My father’s three decade old niche business (a kosher butcher shop) went out of business when his niche became trendy and the wholesalers offered substantially lower prices to the supermarkets than they did to us. My dad’s business was one of several which went under during this phase. Now if you live in my parents’ region, the only place you can get kosher meat is a supermarket, and the supermarkets will only sell it as long as it’s a profit-making item.)

    (Disclaimer PS: I suppose the advantage of the bookshop situation is that, as cchp points out, there are libraries to fill the knowledge and permanence gap being made by the closure of the small bookstores. There aren’t really meat libraries. “Miss? I’d like to place an interlibrary loan request for a nice brisket. Oh, and let me pay this fine for my overdue Chicken Kiev.”)

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  4. Bibliofuture says:
    January 30, 2005 at 9:19 pm

    Big Business Crushes / Small Business Adapts
    “Big business wins,” she said. “It always does, you know.”

    The above statement was made at the end of the article this statement was made by the owner of the “Little Flower” store.

    I think that big business crushes and small business adapts and swerves. Small businesses have the advantage of speed with which they can find new products that consumers like before the big businesses know about them. Once the big businesses know about the new product with their large size they are able to dominate the market. Small businesses need to stay ever nimble if they want to survive.

    In another part of the article is this quote from another store owner But one area she is not willing to try after 30 years in business is the Internet, and online sales are becoming a big player in the retail industry.

    It is a shame this store owner is not at least considering ways that they could use the internet to connect with their customers. Here is a store that is not being nimble because they are not using one of the tools available to them. This may be one of the factors that allows big business the edge in this case.

    Reply

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