THE FIRST of the former Wesley Owen bookshops to be reborn as a Living Oasis store is scheduled to open its doors in Harrogate at 1pm on Saturday, February 13th, according to a brief note left here earlier today by Julie Jowett, the shop’s manager. Adrian Plass — author of many Christian books including the hilarious Bacon … Continue reading »
Posted in January 2010 …
Living Oasis: Official Press Release
In the words of the inimitable Ian Metcalfe, straight from the horse’s mouth. Or, to be more precise, from the Revd Andy Twilley, Director of Christian Life & Ministry at Nationwide Christian Trust: Living Oasis: A Vision for the High Street In the weeks leading up to Christmas we waited with bated breath to see … Continue reading »
Living Oasis: A new and exciting vision for your local Christian Bookshop
The following message was sent out yesterday to supporters and friends of Wesley Owen Harrow: Dear Friends ‘Living Oasis’ – A new and exciting vision for your local Christian Bookshop: I am delighted to be able to tell you that although Wesley Owen in Harrow will be closing very soon, a plan has been proposed … Continue reading »
Mother and son join forces to save Walsall’s Christian Bookshop
Mother and son team, Christine and Luke Bunger, have today announced plans to save the former Wesley Owen Christian bookshop in Walsall. The shop ceased trading this weekend, one of the casualties of parent company IBS-STL UK’s collapse into administration shortly before Christmas 2009. Christine Bunger was manager of Wesley Owen Walsall, where Luke, a … Continue reading »
“The short-sightedness of helping an industry cause its own collapse is staggering.”
I spotted this on the Times online, an ad in the header of last Saturday’s article about Christian bookshops, The call goes out to keep Jesus on the High Street: It’s an excerpt from an article about overfishing of bluefin tuna, which begins: Two weeks ago a single bluefin tuna sold in Japan for a … Continue reading »
Wesley Owen: More closures, but hope for Chester?
Despite ongoing conversations with the Nationwide Christian Trust, I’m told that this weekend will see another four five of the abandoned branches of Wesley Owen — Chester, Dundee, Inverness, Macclesfield and Walsall — finally cease trading. That leaves branches of CLC in Dundee and Inverness, but no overtly Christian retail presence in the other three towns, … Continue reading »
Nationwide Christian Trust Confirmed as Bidders for Remaining Wesley Owen Stores
Update 27/01/2010: Living Oasis: Official Press Release Nationwide Christian Trust have confirmed that they are in discussions over a possible rescue mission to save at least some of the remaining Wesley Owen stores. Although no official announcement can be made at this stage, important meetings are taking place around the country with concerned parties in bookshops … Continue reading »
A Polite Request to Christian (and other) Publishers: Please don’t do this
I know it’s tempting. I know they’re probably your biggest outlet in today’s world. But really, truly, Amazon don’t need your help to boost their market share: they’re taking it from the rest of us anyway, along with the supermarkets with all their cut-price paperbacks. Kudos to Evangelical Press for launching a national railways poster … Continue reading »
A Future and a Hope for the UK’s Christian Bookshops
Today I’d like to offer my thanks to Rebecca Paveley for her superb write-up in Saturday’s Times outlining both the crisis facing and the future hope for the UK’s Christian bookshops: The call goes out to keep Jesus on the High Street. In it, Rebecca highlights the ironic fact that whilst many are blaming the … Continue reading »
Our Journey So Far: Handouts from Stronger Together – Weaker Apart #stwa
Mandy Briars of CRE has kindly given permission for us to make the handouts from the Stronger Together – Weaker Apart consultation and presentation day available for those who were unable to attend. Continue reading »
