Having seen almost 50 Canadian stores close in the past 18 months, Larry Willard, publisher of Castle Quay Books in Pickering, Ontario, has partnered to open a Toronto-area retail outlet and urged Christians to give such businesses their support.

Though Christian stores need a new business model, "they need Christians to help them survive," Willard writes in the November-December issue of Evangelical Christian magazine. "Nothing replaces the vast selection of the traditional dedicated Christian bookstore."

Willard says that "in saving a few dollars, we left our traditional Christian institutions in jeopardy," describing the slew of closures--including one-time leading chains Blessings Christian Marketplace and R.G. Mitchell's Family Books--as a "bookstore tsunami."

Disputing the idea that Christian bookstore were obsolete, Willard opened Family Family Books & Gifts in Scarborough, earlier this year. "We are ready for a new model of Christian retailing," he writes. "They must make the customer's experience as exciting and inexpensive as possible.

"I am not recommending that you forget about getting a good and fair deal and just pay anything to keep your Christian retailer in business," he says. "I just ask that you give them a chance."