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 Geni Hulsey on the growth of church bookstores and the need for greater industry unity
Geni Hulsey became manager of The Garden Bookstore at First Baptist Church in Houston in 1993. The president of the Church Bookstore Network since 2005, she has been a regular trainer at The Gathering of Church Bookstores and other industry events. CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What’s the state of health of the church bookstore movement these days?
Geni Hulsey: Very healthy. It’s growing. As churches are building or remodeling, a bookstore is almost always an issue that is top in line and discussed and generally added to new churches.
It’s hard to put numbers to it, though—sort of like trying to fish with your hands in a pond. We know they are out there, we just can’t seem to get our hands on all of them and find out where they all are. But we are working very hard with several entities in trying to do that. The other issue is that the Church Bookstore Network does not have a membership roll.
What makes you so confident that numbers are growing, though?
The constant calls that we get from either pastors, business administrators … those kinds of things. A couple of our vendors go regularly to church business administrator events where they meet people who are in charge of making decisions like this, and the church bookstore is almost always a question. How do we do it and how do we find out how to do it?
Are church stores now seen as a legitimate part of the industry?
Absolutely, though that has not always been the case—and I would lay part of the blame for that at the feet of some of the church bookstores that existed back then. … churches that were buying product and bringing it in, selling it at cost or below the cost in order to avoid paying retail at their local Christian store. I think they were doing it in a very unfair way.
How are relations now between general Christian retailers and church bookstores?
They are a lot better than they were 15 years ago when I came into the industry—a lot better. I think we’ve learned to work together. Many independent retailers have learned that church bookstores are not there for competition, but to be a contributor to the industry. The other issue is that there are not as many independents as there used to be, and the church bookstores are sort of filling that gap in a lot of communities.
Suppliers were hesitant about church stores, too, weren’t they?
I think that was an industry-wide attitude. The credit applications, the whole process back then, was such that it was very, very discouraging to churches to try to get into the industry at all.
What sort of support is this movement getting from suppliers now?
A lot. I’ve worked with many of the vendors to help them understand what the church bookstore is all about, that we are viable businesses that they need to be selling to, that they need to be working with. I have seen many vendors’ attitudes change over the 15 years I have been in the business, and now they literally come to us, wanting our business and wanting to know how they can better serve the church bookstore industry.
I am seeing vendors actually create programs for church bookstores, and so I think we are very definitely a part of Christian retail, and the vendors are very open to us now.
What about CBA?
I think it’s 180 degrees from where it was. Certainly their loyalty was to the independents, and that was as it should have been, but I think now they see the growth of church bookstores, and they understand their constituency is Christian retail, and that church bookstores are a part of Christian retail. We have a training track for church bookstores at the International Christian Retail Show and just a far more positive attitude now.
What about complaints that church stores are unfair competition because they don’t pay staff or rent?
I really think these issues are almost passé. We have so many other things to think about, like the impact of the Internet, the impact of so many other venues that sell the same products we sell … the fact that so many of our vendors are selling direct to customers. There are so many other things that impact our sales than the fact that church bookstores might not pay their staff. I do know some bookstores that are totally responsible for everything except for paying rent, so it just depends upon the church.
Do all church bookstores succeed?
Oh no. As a matter of fact, I got a call recently from one that shut down. They just felt discouraged financially; it was beginning to be too much of a drain. My estimation is the church was too small to have had a bookstore in the first place. But they don’t all succeed. It depends on the amount of training they provide for the management of that store, the amount of support that they get from the staff and the congregation. A lot of factors. What’s the minimum-size church for a successful bookstore?
I go with the definition of a megachurch. If you have 2,000 bodies every single Sunday in your church, then you can start thinking about a church bookstore. ...
It’s harder to do a small church bookstore, but if you are in a community that does not have any Christian retail and you are the largest church there and your membership is around 1,000 or 1,500 and you run 800 or so in church, there is a need there, then I say fill it because we need Christian retail wherever we can get it.
Are there any particular challenges for church stores?
I don’t think it’s so different from any other independent. I think it’s getting your congregation to know that you are there and what’s there. Sometimes the location is very bad and so there is not a traffic flow after worship past the bookstore. Many times there is not enough traffic during the week to make it viable.
What about the advantages of being in a church?
We have a captive audience and a captive marketer and that’s the pastor in the pulpit. If he mentions something, it’s going to sell. At our church, the pastor can mention something, and I generally don’t sell less than 200 or 300 of whatever he is referring to.
How have church bookstores changed through the years?
It’s becoming more professional—that’s the huge thing I am seeing. It’s not just a little nook in the corner; it’s really, honestly, a bookstore. A lot of that has to do with the training that has been made available through The Church Bookstore magazine, The Gathering of Church Bookstores event, the Church Bookstore Network and CBA events and others.
What about The Gathering?
It’s given us the ability to ask questions and to go deeper into a subject, and there’s a great spiritual refreshment. The authors, the musicians that come bring such encouragement to us and always a message that is spot-on. … I see two or three people sitting over in a corner praying together and sharing with each other and upholding each other. The 2009 event will include other retailers and a gift emphasis; how will that change things?
I think it acknowledges that church bookstores are now embraced as being part of something bigger; I think we will see people locking arms together. There was never a definitive goal of separating the two. We want to see the whole industry embracing each other. We just all want to get along. One of the goals in a church bookstore should be to train our people to shop Christian retail, period—whether it’s in the church or at an independent in their neighborhood—because they can go to the strangest places to find Christian product. It’s my job as a manager in my store to always let my people know where the local Christian retail is beyond us, because they’re not here at church seven days a week.
What do you encourage church bookstores to do?
My vision is that if a church is going to have a bookstore, they do it with the utmost integrity and that they do it according to laws, according to Christian retail standards and that they be a part of the industry.
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