There are some 700 Christian booksellers in Canada. They face difficult times, for a variety of reasons. BCCN spoke to Mark Hutchinson, co-owner (with his wife Angela) of Blessings Christian Marketplace – a chain of 23 stores across Canada, with its headquarters in     Chilliwack.

BCCN: What is the state of Christian booksellers at present?

Mark Hutchinson: The whole industry is facing tough times. Much of our inventory was purchased three to four months ago, through Canadian distributors. Customer demand for prices consistent with the current high dollar is killing retailers like us!

BCCN: Can you explain how this works?

MH: I buy a book for $10 in September, and sell it for $14. I can now buy that book for, say $8 – and thus sell it for $11.20. We have employees and stores and other overhead; selling a $10 book for $11.20 is zero profit. Despite reducing our margins, we are seeing a huge decline in customers.

BCCN: How long can a retailer carry on with such margins?

MH: I don’t think we can go much longer. Sales were good till mid-September. Now we’re in decline. The market, the stores, the customer base is all unchanged; the only thing that is different is the high dollar. If we don’t see a marked improvement by January, I’ll have to reduce our stores.

BCCN: Is another challenge big box stores?

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MH: Big box stores, Wal Mart, Costco and Superstore buy the cream of the cream – and can afford to only mark it up by 13 percent. They buy sheer volume, and can often even negotiate to return unsold product.

We want to be so much more than simply a retailer. We seek to be a type of ministry, a place that is trying to build community and complement the work of the local church.

BCCN: But some would say you are in business to make a profit.

MH: Blessings doesn’t make any profit. In fact, last year, we gave away $20,000 to Christian ministries.  We also host events, bring in authors and musicians and have in-store events. It blows me away when we get letters from people whose lives were changed by the products we sold.

BCCN: So what are the answers to these challenges?

MH: Well, unless there is a tangible increase in customer loyalty – a dramatic change – I don’t see how some of the smaller Christian bookstores can survive. There also needs to be more unity and cooperation between suppliers and booksellers. I am actively looking into how we might network and connect with each other.

Let me compare Canada and the U.S. Family Christian Books is a chain in the U.S., with 330 stores; they likely do around $330 million in sales. In Canada, the whole industry – including sales in big box stores – is worth around $100 million. I’ve heard the U.S. Christian bookstore world is worth $4.4 billion.

– Peter Biggs

December 2007