Well, well, well...I just heard that a long-established Christian bookstore in the area will be closing down due to going bankrupt. I suppose you would think that as a believer, I would be saddened by this. In a way, I am, but only in a very small way. It was a family-friendly store with decent staff and a good selection of popular books (emphasis on popular). I have not been a regular shopper there for years, once I found out that they were more than willing to commit highway robbery with the exorbitant prices that they charge. I mean, who, really, did they think they were fooling? Of course, if you didn't know better, you'd be happy to pay for the products that they have there, but with the advances in online ordering, the ability to network with people and buy second hand, it's hard to understand why they continually jacked up the prices of their books far beyond reasonable.
Case in point - I was looking for N.T. Wright's Gospel study set - a series of six books that was like a combination devotional / Bible study / commentary. My buddy, who is an Anglican guy, knows of a bookstore that sold the set for something like $90.00 Cdn. + tax. Of course, this place was located downtown, so I wasn't crazy about riding the subway, and was even less enthusiastic about driving there, with the cost of gas and all. My friend could have picked it up for me the next time he was downtown, since he goes to theology school in the area, but I didn't know when the next time he would do this would be. So I held off on the purchase. A couple of other Christian bookstores in Toronto had the set and it was selling for around $100.00 + tax.
At the aforementioned Christian bookstore which has now gone under, they were listing it for $124.99 + tax. Now, you may say, who cares - what's $24.99 + tax? Well, consider this...I ended up buying the set brand new, at a gigantic Canadian retail book chain for...are you ready for this? $54.99 + tax. Yes, it was brand new and even in the sealed distributor's box. Now that is insane, considering the fact that the publishers are still making money off this.
This Christian bookstore was also known for using their own pricing stickers, covering the MSRP. I guess that's OK if the price is lower, but when it is 10-20% higher, I have a wee bit problem with that. Now, you may argue that Christian industry is at a bit of a disadvantage, since the cost of doing business is likely more since whether it is Christian books, music or anything else, they don't have huge companies financially backing them and they don't sell their products en masse. I can appreciate that, and for that reason, I don't mind paying the bit extra to support the industry. But when a store or company is consistently gouging the Christian consumer - well, Christians have brains too - and free will - and choice. For me, I chose to take my meager spending dollars and go elsewhere, even if it means that I end up buying from a non-Christian source.
I used to be a record reviewer in the Christian music scene, writing regular reviews for one of the largest Christian alternative music magazines on the market (give you a hint, it was based in Texas and was started by the founder of a cheesy Blonde Vinyl band that sang about sex-related themes). Anyway, as part of my deal, I got my Christian CDs brand new, for VERY cheap from the Canadian distributor (and they couriered them all to my residence or my parents' residence, depending on where I was). Now, consider this for back in 1994: Christian CDs were selling at most stores for $18.99 Cdn. + tax, which was a rip anyway. The average secular CD was selling for around $15.00 at the time at most places, and a lot more at the secular version of the ultimate store of highway robbery, HMV. Now, CDs at this Christian store would sell at $18.99, but that was considered a once-a-year-sale type of price. The average price of a regular CD was $22.99 + tax. Yup. To put it into perspective, I got mine directly from the distributor for $3.00 + tax each. I must have purchased over 400 CDs during my stint as a record reviewer. But the distributor told me that they were selling to be at cost, which surely must make you shake your head at the $22.99 + tax price tag.
Years ago, I made the mistake of going against my brain and buying a Christian book mainly due to its sheer popularity. I don't mind telling you that I seriously regret purchasing Rick Warren's cheese-bucket tome, "The Purpose Driven Life". If you haven't read it, you ain't missing much. Anyhow, this store was selling it for $18.99 or so. The suggested retail price was a few bucks less, and I ended up getting it at CostCo for a mere $9.99. Now, you may not know this, but this Christian bookstore was not only a retail outlet, but also a supplier/distributor. Guess what - Costco bought their Warren books from this store and sold it for considerably less than what this store listed it for - that makes you really wonder what the cost of the book was to Costco. Obviously this store sold to Costco for far less than to the average book buyer. I wonder why. Did they think Christians would be stupid and not shop around? Needless to say, you can't really cut it any other way than to state that it is pure greed that enveloped their selling practices. And of course, like the Bible says, you reap what you sow and certainly this company is now on the reaping side of the equation, after all these years.
Now, a casual reader of this MAY conclude that I am being very hard on Christian businesses. Nothing can be further from the truth. Do you know that when I choose to do business with someone - whether it's proper or not, I do give preferential treatment towards Christian businesses, even realizing that I may have to pay slightly more (which is OK with me). When I needed to get a new roof for my house back in 2001, I solicited different companies and in the end, I chose a company based out in Durham Region called Excel Roofing. The owner/proprietor is a Christian and runs his company in a way that honours God. Now, his staff may not be all Christians, but he has a certain value system in how he does business. The roof cost a bit more than what other companies were quoting me, but I though it was a reasonable amount, and let me tell you - they did one heck of a job on my roof. I know people since then who have had their roofs done by different companies and have had problems, but this Christian guy's company did an amazing job on my roof. Seven years later, all the shingles look the same as they did, nothing is loose or curling (unlike my next door neighbour's roof which was done a year ago and already has curling shingles). My dentist is a Christian, and I specifically continue to go to him and recommended my wife and son to go to him. I have to drive quite a bit to get to him, but I'm happy with his service, and know that he will do a good job, as he always does.
I do a little information technology work on the side, and I run my own business the same way - so far, I am batting 100% with satisfied customers. I don't think I'm doing anything different, other than simply treating my customers with respect, and doing what I said I would do and keeping my word, and conducting myself beyond approach in my speech and behaviour. Yeah, it sucks sometimes that I overrun my estimate, but I eat that cost, since I gave the customer my quote and I honour that. I actually have a new client that I am seeing tomorrow night and she heard via word of mouth about my business and abilities. Just like anything else - if you do things above board, your business will be OK. If you start getting greedy - well, we all know what will eventually happen.
I certainly am not out to discourage Christians from making a buck. If a Christian can turn a good reasonable profit without knowingly hosing people in the process, that's great. But what I can't stand are the stores like this one who seem to think that Christians (who by stereotypical nature are doormats) will pay anything for Christian literature and music. Well, the ruse is up and just like in the typical marketplace, if you are going to be ripping people off, word will get around, and your business will dry up.
However, significantly more is not.
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