Relevance

[Gail]

Recently I was visiting a girlfriend who was in town, chatting about the last year. We talked a bit about the ABC (as I have changed jobs and no longer work there) and Christian bookstores in general. The situation with these retailers has been difficult for years now, and she questioned their relevance for today.

I admit I have no real answer to this. These are days when faith must meet people where they are at. People want authenticity and Christians need to be real and be able to convey that. 

[B/W Photodude]

1 hour ago, Gail said:

We talked a bit about the ABC (as I have changed jobs and no longer work there) and Christian bookstores in general. The situation with these retailers has been difficult for years now, and she questioned their relevance for today.

Amazon and the other online book sellers is probably why. It is not like no one is writing or buying books, it is just how it is occurring these days.  I buy few books in stores. Most books I buy are used and from Amazon's dealers. Sometimes I will ask for a book in a bookstore and they may not have it and offer to order it for me. Amazon is faster. And many people are now going electronic. I don't because electronic is no way to seriously read something, especially a subject intense like theology books.

The online and "huge" big box people are seriously changing America. In a small town, when Walmart comes in, most of the small stores go out of business. Commercial "downtown" parts of many small towns are virtually abandoned.