Family Christian Stores Closing All 240 Stores

Family Christian Stores has announced that it will be closing all 240 stores.  This company has been in business for 85 years.  The company claims that the reasons for closing all stores are due to “changing consumer behavior and declining sales”.  Family Christian Stores is a non-profit and one of the largest local providers of Christian products.  The company has not announced when the stores will be closed.

With the growing trend of digital products, the physical demand for books have rapidly declined.  Students in schools are even using iPads instead of physical books to cover various school subjects.  Personally, I do not like this change, and as a parent, I love the fact that my 2 year old loves to read her books and look at the graphics within them.  Although, she cannot quite read yet, she believes that she can and I love to hear her “read” to me as she flips through the pages of her favorite books.  The fact that Family Christian Stores are closing all locations in 36 states is not surprising to me but it is devastating to hear a business that has operated for 85 years and currently employees over 3,000 employees will be closing its doors.

In 2015, Family Christian Stores used chapter 11 bankruptcy to wipe away over $127 million in debt with suppliers.  Post-bankruptcy, Family Christian continued to pledge all proceeds to charity and had hoped the bankruptcy would be its chance to redirect its focus to serving those in need.  According to the company, the Family Christian Ministries has provided over “14 million orphans, widows and oppressed people” humanitarian aid.

I am very sad to hear this news about Family Christian since I love to physically go and browse its aisles for Christian books and gifts to give during the holidays, such as daily devotionals.  When shopping online, you cannot really get a feel for whether a daily devotional will work or not for your need.  With this closing, it just makes me wonder how this new digital world will affect our children… our leaders of tomorrow.