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By Jim Coggins
WHILE MANY others are struggling and even closing, one of Canada's largest Christian bookstores is embarking on a $1 million expansion.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place May 15 for an expansion that will add over 5,000 square feet to the House of James's retail space. Along with the building comes a tweaking of the store's philosophy.
The groundbreaking came in the midst of a sale marking the 35th anniversary for a bookstore that started as a coffee house ministry in Mission, BC and later moved across the Fraser River to the heart of British Columbia's 'Bible belt,' the city of Abbotsford.
Do you want coffee with that?
The centrepiece of the expansion is an enlarged coffee shop that will seat about 70 people and will have a stage offering live music every weekend.
Lando Klassen, along with his wife Kathy, owns and manages the store. He says the venue will also be used for a variety of other events -- comedy nights, art shows, lecture series, book signings, talks by authors, book discussion clubs and parenting seminars. He also hopes to host events for the whole community, such as all-candidates' meetings during local elections.
The store has already been doing some of these things, but will now be able to do more and handle larger crowds.
Klassen sees the revamped store as "a community gathering place -- we want to develop a place that has more reasons to come to than just to buy a book."
While the store has a loyal base of customers, "the biggest challenge is attracting the 18 to 30 crowd." Klassen says this is the same challenge many churches face, with young adults drifting away and maybe coming back when they have children.
For this younger generation, the expanded coffee shop will offer food and entertainment, somewhere to go on a Friday night other than the movies. He wants the store to be "a welcoming place for seekers" and "a place folks meet for coffee or lunch."
Radical roots
The store grew out of an outreach coffee house ministry started by a group of young people and pastors in Mission, BC in 1970. The ministry morphed into the House of James Jesus Book and Record Shop in 1973 -- a tiny, 480-square-foot store with a suite in the back where Klassen and several friends lived. The name is taken from the book of James in the Bible, where the theme of putting faith to work is emphasized.
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The revamped coffee shop is not exactly a return to the store's roots. "The first coffee house was a mission, to spread the gospel," says Klassen. "Now it is a business that has a mission through what we sell, encouraging people in their walk with God."
The bookstore moved to a larger rented retail space in Abbotsford in 1983. It moved to its current 7,200-square-foot location in 1997 when the Klassens purchased a former auto dealership in the centre of town.
Besides the coffee shop, the expanded store, which should be ready by October, will include more room for books. The youth section will triple in size, and there will be more room for children's books both classic and Christian, Bibles, general books, gifts and other items.
A servant attitude
Even with the expansion, the House of James will not be the largest Christian bookstore in Canada in terms of floor space, and possibly not in sales. But being number one is not a priority for the Klassens. Having an impact on the community is.
Klassen says it is an advantage to be located in a city known as "BC's Bible belt," but adds that Abbotsford also has a large Indo-Canadian community, most of whom don't come to his store. The store also draws customers from neighbouring communities such as Mission, Chilliwack and Langley.
"We have a very strong and loyal customer base," says Klassen. "It's been fun to see people who visited us when they were single now bringing in their grandchildren."
But Klassen says the store can't take its customers for granted. He has been "blessed with hardworking, caring and loyal staff," he says. Some of the 28 staff have been with him for over 18 years even though they could probably make more money elsewhere.
The key is that the staff "bend over backwards to serve people," says Klassen. The store tries to keep up with the times, bringing in the latest items and importing hard-to-get music. The store is also revamping its website and has a vibrant mail order department that particularly serves loyal customers who have moved away.
Like many other Christian bookstores, the House of James had a difficult time in the fall of 2007 when the rising Canadian dollar and competition from Internet-based retailers significantly cut into sales. However, revenues have revived this spring, and the problems did not derail the expansion, which had been in the planning stage for two and a half years.
One thing that is clear is that Klassen is not satisfied with the status quo. He notes that there are Christian bookstores in other highly churched towns in Canada that are not doing well.
He is also uncomfortable with Abbotsford's reputation as the "Bible belt." There are a lot of churches in the city, but most aren't growing significantly. Noting the growth of crime and other social problems, he adds, "I'm not sure we've had the impact on society we should have had."
May 29/2008
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