Not knowing if their businesses were still standing or if they had been reduced to rubble was heavy on the minds of Christian retailers reached after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf States area.

Some storeowners and managers in areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina said they and their families were safe, but pondered if their bookstores or their lives would ever be the same. Christian Retailing attempted to reach more than 50 Christian retail outlets in affected areas in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Only about six stores could be reached.

Anthony Campo, owner of Simple Goodness bookstore in Mandeville, La., 30 miles north of New Orleans, fled to Nashville when Katrina hit and had no idea what shape his retail outlet was in a week after the tragedy.

“Short term or long term, the business is out of business because nobody is working any more down there,” he told Christian Retailing from his cell phone. “Ninety percent of our church is out of work. It's pretty brutal.” Campo hoped to return to Manderville the end of the week to inspect his home and bookstore, and to find out if his six employees were OK.

Maureen Gillane, manager of The Study bookstore inside Church of the King in Mandeville, La., has received reports that the church and store are in “amazingly good condition.”

The church and 4-year-old store are 20 miles west of Slidell, which took a direct hit from Katrina. Gillane's assistant manager is safe, but she has not made contact with the store's 25 volunteers.

“Word is there will be no power to the area for one to two months,” Gillane told Christian Retailing. “The area has a tremendous amount of trees down, but I'm not hearing about total building collapses like Slidell and Gulfport.”

Gillane, a resident of Slidell, evacuated to Texarkana, Texas, with her husband and 80-year-old parents before the hurricane. The family is staying in a hotel and seeking temporary housing until St. Tammany Parish authorities allow them to return home.

The Gillanes did not know the condition of their Slidell home, but a new home being built in Covington, La., 20 miles west of Slidell, is not OK. Reports are the roof was hit by a big tree and sheetrock is down inside.

“The stuff we lost is just that-stuff,” she said. “Our family is what's important. God is very gracious to us. He is providing for all our needs.”

Scott McDonald, president of Lemstone Christian Stores, said it was days before he heard from Robert and Mona Fillingane, owners of the Lemstone store in Hattiesburg, Miss.

“The mall they are in was damaged significantly, perhaps a third of it being flooded, but their store was only minimally damaged, with no product damage. Bob attributes it to God's answer to prayer and His protection on the store. They don't know when they'll be able to open.”

Rob Phillips, a spokesperson for LifeWay Christian Stores said a store in Gulf Port, Miss., and at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary are closed.

“Right now, our priority is to contact the 30-plus employees from these two stores and find out if they're OK and how we can help them,” he said “We reached a handful so far.”

A report by Rose Mary Rylander-Young of F&A Christian Bookstore in Plaquemine, La., was a familiar one-one of retailers helping others in need. There was no structural damage to the store, located about 15 miles from Baton Rouge, but Bibles were in big demand. The store had been giving away Bibles to people being bused in from heavily damaged areas. She and her daughter had been feeding dinners to people being bused into the area.

Bookstores in Houston, where more than 25,000 evacuees were housed in shelters, were helping out hurricane victims by passing out Bibles.

Richard Gillespie of Christian Treasures in Houston said his store had donated 150 Bibles to The Salvation Army, which was to distribute them at shelters.

“A lot of people, if they could take nothing else with them, made sure to take their Bible,” he said. “Those who didn't want a Bible, and people who never cracked a Bible before are suddenly finding the need to read one. There's a lot of comfort in there.”

Full story to appear in the Oct. 3 issue of Christian Retailing.

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