When George Thomsen designed the interior for Harvest Booklstore at Harvest Christian Fellwoship in Riverside, Calif., a 9,000 square foot store that opened in 2002, he had three priorities.

He wanted to emphasize the sales of books, Bibles and music; to designate the correct proportion of floor space to each product and each sales category; and to allow enough space for the Sunday rush of customer traffic.

Shelves of books along the back wall rise from the floor to the ceiling, emphasizing the printed word and creating the feel of a library-there is even a large ladder. In front of the wall of books are shorter, wooden, product-filled shelves divided into the usual bookstore classifications-Christian living, commentary, devotional and fiction-with the addition of a large area designated for publications by the church's senior pastor, Greg Laurie.

The children have a separate "room" toward the back. Signage and bright colors lead the way. Gifts, cards, jewelry and other merchandise can be found in the store, but they have to be discovered. This de-emphasis was intentional. So were the large aisles and larger-than-usual open space at the front of the store, near the registers.

"You have to design a church bookstore differently than a nonchurch bookstore," said Thomsen. "We have to design for the busiest day of the week."

- Best Practice profile, The Church Bookstore, November/December 2005. Click here to read the full article.