A message from Geni Hulsey, president of the Church Bookstore Network:

As a shorty, I have had a number of top-shelf "episodes" while out shopping. Just last week, when I was at the grocery store getting some laundry items, one of the boxes I was reaching for fell on my head.

Some of those things that come in boxes or jugs are pretty heavy-especially if they are six to eight inches above your head. The result can be bruises, displays falling apart and other embarrassing moments.

My latest such incident made me think about our stores. Can a customer comfortably reach the items she is interested in? Can he look at an item without the entire display falling apart? Is the price visible at a glance or at least easily found on the item?

This is all to do with how we merchandise our stores. How readily available is the product that we are trying to sell?

CBA Chairman-elect George Thomsen will be among the speakers at a regional meeting, Monday, Oct. 19, at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, Calif. He is manager of the Harvest Store at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif.

Topics for the event will include "Retail Essentials-Developing a Bookstore," "Building and Maintaining a Volunteer Team" and "Merchandising Your Store."

Contact Cottonwood Bookstore Manager Rose Seeley at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call 714-947-5356.

The Munce Group's Christian Product Expo (CPE) takes place at the Embassy Suites, Murfreesboro, Tenn., Sept. 13-15.

The event opens with a Bible conference featuring Kay Arthur. Keynote speaker will be David Jeremiah, with Stan Toler and Ernie Haase and Signature Sound among the authors and artists in attendance.

Workshops will include "Common retail myths debunked, "Children's/youth department," "Controlling expenses while increasing profits and margins" and free Bookstore Manager training.

Attendees placing qualifying orders at the event are eligible for travel and accommodation reimbursements.

For more information, go to www.cperegionals.com.

You can qualify for free registration for The Gathering 2010, the annual Christian Retailing and The Church Bookstore conference and trade show, to be held April 21-23 next year in Louisville, Ky.

The free places at the event to be hosted by Southeast Christian Church are being offered to stores that participate in the Virtual Christmas Showcase, the publications' latest online initiative.

Featuring details of suppliers' holiday season promotions, with some special offers, the virtual presentation will run Sept. 30-Nov. 16 at the Web site, www.christianretailing.com.

The free registrations for The Gathering 2010 will go to stores that place qualifying orders during the Virtual Christmas Showcase.

Up to 90 exhibitors are expected to be part of the live event at Southeast Christian Church, whose The Living Word bookstore won the Christian Retailing and The Church Bookstore Large Bookstore of the Year award for 2009.

The Gathering will also include training sessions, teaching, prayer for the industry and fellowship. Previously held in Texas and Florida, the event has been moved back from January to after Easter to avoid busier periods and make it easier for stores to send representatives.

by David Whitford

We are all inundated with "free" merchandising kits sent to us by publishers. You may feel they clutter up your store or detract from your store's ministry, but it is possible to use them in effective and appropriate ways.

First, decide if the item being promoted is something you personally believe in. Do you think it will help someone or change a life to be more like Christ? Is it something you will sell to customers with confidence? If the answer is yes, promote it with everything you have.

POINT OF SALE

Use bag stuffers, shelftalkers and P.O.S. displays. A general rule of thumb is to use these for no more than three weeks for one particular product. If a book is still "hot" after three weeks, you can still keep it that way with a display in another area of the store.

Keep the counter area fresh.

Keeping in touch with the seasons can help bring your displays to life without a lot of time or expense. The fall tones in the floral arrangement and drape in this presentation at Prestonwood Bookstore at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, brings to life a collection of framed crosses.

I find being on my feet all day exhausting. How have you learned to deal with that?

Oh, my aching feet: You have asked a question that really hits home today. This is a common bond that holds together all of us that work in retail.

The flooring in your store will greatly impact how much your feet and your legs ache. In too many store designs, flooring is the least discussed item with the people who will be standing on it all day long.

Make sure that ease of care is not the only detail considered when planning what type of floors will be used. What works well in the aisles might not be best behind the counter. Just because the tile is easy to clean in high-traffic areas doesn't mean Suzie can work for eight hours on that hard a surface behind the counter.

Consider having rubberized mats behind your cash counter. Not only will they provide some comfort, but they also protect carpet from the wear and tear that will always be high in that area. They are easier to clean and also absorb sound.

I have found that having more than one pair of shoes at work is a must. Especially on those long days during the holidays, changing shoes one or two times a day really helps in keeping those tootsies happy.

Take good care of your feet by wearing good shoes with solid support. Remember, they are the only feet you have, so baby them all you can.

Got a question for Betty Bookstore? Write to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

With Clergy Appreciation Month coming in October, you may want to encourage members of your church to shop for gifts to express their appreciation for your church leaders.

A survey by LifeWay Research found 67% of pastors admitting that it was easy to get discouraged in their ministry, and 70% acknowledging that their leadership role left them feeling lonely.

Pastors in small churches and those under the age of 50 were more likely to feel lonely at times, according to the poll of 800 pastors.

"Discouragement and loneliness are common among pastors today," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. But this is not a new phenomenon, he noted. "The apostle Paul's letters to pastors and church planters in the New Testament are filled with encouragement and exhortation to stand firm and endure."

Responding to the survey findings, LifeWay has partnered with NEXT Networks to launch a coaching network system for pastors, bringing together a dozen church leaders once a month for six months.

Meanwhile, Clergy Appreciation Month, established by Focus on the Family, encourages congregations to "honor their pastors and pastoral families for the hard work, sacrificial dedication and multiple blessings provided by these special people."

Sponsors of the event have created a planning guide to help churches coordinate their involvement.

Source: LifeWay Research

Read more at http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%25253D169508%252526M%25253D200906%2C00.html.

For more information on Clergy Appreciation Month, go to http://www.parsonage.org.

We asked: Where do you draw the line on deciding what is suitable for your store?

"We do not discriminate against books with doctrinal differences. Our senior pastor is very open to differing opinions and a broad view of Christianity. He feels there are things in every book that someone could disagree with, but without reading them, how would one know they disagreed?

"We believe that those who are discipled in Christ will hopefully be able to use their knowledge of Scripture to tell 'good' from 'bad.' This helps to analyze and reinforce our own beliefs and declare the truth of the gospel."

Rusty Miller
Manager, Inklings Bookstore
Cherry Hills Community Church
Highlands Ranch, Colo.

The holiday season has already started in some secular stores, but what's appropriate for a church store? When do you begin your Christmas focus, and how does it tie in to your church's calendar? What do you do to make the most of the season commercially without losing sight of the real focus?

Share your experiences, ideas and comments with others at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..