Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007 - (Page CER15)

retail profile Logos Bookstore Kent, Ohio + LOGOS: A CONGREGATION OF STORES Nonprofit association of booksellers pools ideas T BY DAN BENNETT hough each Logos Bookstore is independently owned and operated, store owners find that working together makes sense. The stores, which specialize in Christian products, formed the nonprofit member-owned Association of Logos Bookstores in 1974, six years after the first Logos store opened in Ann Arbor, Mich. Today, owners or representatives from 24 stores in the United States, Canada and the Bahamas meet for an annual conference and network throughout the year. “The organization is unique in Christian circles,” says Rebecca Gorczyca, the trade association’s executive director, who began her career operating the Logos store in Kent, Ohio, in 1972. “We share freely with each other what has worked and what hasn’t in the stores. We get together and agree on common projects, such as the customer catalog. It’s quite democratic and grassroots.” The Intervarsity Christian Fellowship owned the original Logos Bookstore. The name Logos is taken from John 1:1, referring to the word of God. Since 1994, the association also has welcomed similar stores not using the Logos name. As indicated on its Web site (www.logosbookstores.com), “the stores are guided by the verse, ‘Whatever is true, lovely, and of good report … think on these things (Philippians 4:8).’” Inventories vary from store to store, including DVD and music product, with each store adapting to community needs. “We have stores in small rural areas, in large metropolitan areas and just about every place and size in between,” Gorczyca says. “We celebrate the individuality of stores.” DVDs play a big role in stores, which carry both big studio films with faith-based messages and smaller, independent productions. “The DVDs can be a source of study or a source of entertainment,” Gorczyca says. The faith-based high school football drama Facing the Giants is one inspiring title that has done well, she says. “It wasn’t preachy or didactic; it simply presented its message well,” she says. “It’s a good movie for a bunch of guys to get together and see, though everyone will enjoy it.” Also popular in stores is the “Nooma” series, short-film compilations on DVD that address life and spiritual issues in a friendly, modern way, she says. Products for children are a mainstay. “We emphasize the experience of sitting down with your children and turning the pages or watching the program with them,” Gorczyca says. Stores began to venture online about 10 years ago. “We’re not out to compete with Amazon.com,” she says. “Instead, we want to use the Internet to bring people back into the stores. That’s because to us, the store experience is about a lot more than transactions.” That personal approach is essential to Logos, she says. “When people come into a Logos store, we want them to feel they are entering a place of hope and encouragement,” she says. “We want people to share and celebrate the good news. … Some people come in, and we can see they need a word of encouragement. … Other times people will want to talk about serious issues going on in their lives. That’s why we are careful when we are hiring new store staff.” Logos stores support church organizations through in-store and community activities and events, serving as local Christian resource centers. In some of the stores, prayer boxes are set up so that customers can write down their prayer wishes to share with others. As for the future, the association seeks to continue to grow and serve. “It all comes down to providing what the customer and community needs most,” Gorczyca says. NOVEMBER 2007 / CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW 15

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Contents News Commentary TV DVD Cine Mercado KidVid Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Christian Entertainment Review

Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007

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