While there has been a large increase in the number of church stores in recent years, "we're starting to see some adjustments," says George Thomsen, manager of the Harvest Store at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and chairman-elect of CBA.

"Church leaders have found that it's not as easy as 'build it and they will come,' " he notes in an article in the latest issue of CBA Retailers + Resources magazine.

Thomsen lists eight reasons for the problems faced by some church stores, including wrong assumptions about business, poor decisions and lack of expertise, poor accounting and cash flow, as well as deficient internal marketing.

Too many churches opened stores without being aware that more than half of their business would be on Sundays-when people who would not go out of their way to visit during the week, were on the campus. "Consequently, many stores have found that being open seven days a week isn't a sustainable model," he says.

In addition, leaders don't often enough take into account the "economic realities of retail," he cautions--citing blanket discounting. This is "a guarantee that the store will not be profitable."

But with a clearer focus and business model, church stores can do well, he says. "A well-run church store can and should be profitable and generate positive cash flow for the church."

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