“BOOKAFÉ? NEVER HEARD OF THEM,” I hear you say. Nor had I until an intriguing email landed in my inbox: Hello. We’d like to register with UKCBD… Weird name, I thought, but I believe in living dangerously: I hit the link and found myself looking at a Portuguese website featuring a Christian bookshop and café … Continue reading
CONGRATULATIONS to the Christian Bookshop, Rugby, as they celebrate 40 years in business: long may it continue! And I’ll let them do the talking via this superb video tour and introduction to the shop: Discover More… Revive Rugby: Rugby’s own Christian Bookshop UKCBD Entry
Update, 26/1/2011: Official announcements about the closures have now been posted by Wesley Owen: Bath | Bristol (pdfs, identical apart from the store locations and dates of closure) The Bath Chronicle published a report on Weds 25/1/2012: Christian bookshop closes its doors NEWS EMERGED YESTERDAY of further redundancies at Wesley Owen as the Bath and Bristol stores closed … Continue reading
BOOKSHOPS CLOSING seems to be the theme of the month with Quench, St Albans, having announced closure at the end of the month (now also reported in the St Albans & Harpenden Review, 19/12/2011: Quench, Bon Marche and Dash to go), news emerging of Open Door Bookshop, Middlesbrough, having ceased trading and the Christian Bookshop, Chelmsford, due … Continue reading
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
This weekend marks one year since the news broke of SPCK/SSG Leicester’s independence under a new name, Christian Resources: Announcement from St Paul’s Church, Oadby (8/11/2007). Blog Post from Dave Walker (8/11/2007) Leicester SPCK goes independent (The Bookseller, 15/11/2007) Congratulations to Peter Hebden and his team on making it this far: here’s wishing them every success for the future! I invited … Continue reading
A Christian bookshop is so much more than just another business, isn’t it? At least, that’s how it seems to me: I think of Christian bookshops as potential chill-out zones where people should be able to meet away from church; mission outposts on the high street (or in the back street, as the case may … Continue reading
The two most frequently asked questions in my correspondence are: Will you review my book? How do I go about setting up or opening a Christian bookshop? There are other questions, of course: we’ll get to those another time. But for the moment, being contrary, I’ve decided to address the second one first. This advice … Continue reading
