Things Are Not Always as They Appear

For many of us, there are those times when things appear better on the outside than the inside. That can also be true of a local business.

I attended a breakfast this morning and listened to a difficult story from the owner of “The Christian Bookstore” in Stillwater which opened in the downtown area before moving to its present location on Perkins Road. The store has been there for 17 years. The store is in serious financial peril. They have lost employees, missed payrolls and struggled to pay rent. The cars you see lining the store are customers of the Firestone store next door.

The owner told an all too familiar story. He can now buy the same books from Sam’s and Wal-Mart cheaper than he can buy the same books in bulk from his distributors. Amazon, CBD and other Christian book distributors carry inventory priced slightly below his product line. The bookstore has posted steady losses over the past year. That cannot continue indefinitely.

Although the owner of the store is grateful that Wal-Mart, Sams, and other on line sources can place Christian material in the hands of many at reduced costs, the savings comes with a price. Several pastors met this morning to discuss and pray over that issue. The bottom line is that the community and the local churches will have to decide whether the Stillwater Christian Book Store is in reality a local mission which fills unmet needs and whether the store merits our collective financial support even though some of their products may be slightly higher than products obtained from alternative sources.

Like everything else, it will be a choice. There will likely not be unanimity of opinion concerning the community’s willingness or responsibility to support The Christian Book Store.

So there it is. I was not asked to do this. It is just that things sometimes look better on the outside than the inside.