For fifteen years my wife and owned a Christian Bookstore, The Master's Shoppe in Bessemer, AL. It was one of the richest experiencs of our lives. What a ministry opportunity.
Sad to say, the following was proven true:
Victor V Bryditzki "The $elling Of Je$u$: The Confessions of a Christian Bookstore Owner"(Chick Publications:1985)
At $1 (AU) this book was way overpriced but I decided to buy it for the following quote ...........
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Who Comes In And What Do They Buy? Surveys indicate that less than 10% of active church members ever enter a Christian bookstore. ... Actual sales figures show the following scale of popularity among the items offered in the store. Topping the list are cards and small gifts, mostly cheap jewelry. Next comes what is called "Jesus junk" items like trinkets, bumper stickers, decals, and toys and plastic prizes for sunday School. Next comes the latest craze book on "666", giving the month and day of Jesus' return, or the latest out-of-body testimonials, and a number of end-time (mis)interpretations. Next to these are records and cassettes, skimmed milk devotionals, and low-fat study guides. At the end come Bibles, reference books, Church History and other serious works. When I opened the store, I actually thought the sequence wouold be the other way around! Of the 10% of church members who go to Bible bookstores, only 1% (of the 10%) ever purchase serious books. That means 99% (of the 10%) are staisfied with trinkets or shallow or erroneous writings. I am also told that of the Christian reading public, 85% are women. That boggles my mind and confuses my arithmetic. (I have nothing against women; I just wish that men would read too.) p.73
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Replace "records and cassttes" with "cds and dvds" and nothing seems to have changed since 1985!
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