Why so few public Catholic bookstores?

[ChiFaithful]

Dan-Man916:

luckily, i live only 3 blocks away from one.
Only problem is that it closes at 5 before i get home from work.
saturday is the only day i can ever get there, and Sunday, obviously, they are closed.

it is good to live in Chicagoland.

Hey dan, what’s a good Catholic bookstore in the City? I thought that there was one downtown, Monroe I believe, but it looks like it’s closed.

 

[MatsMom]

We have one Catholic Bookstore about 25miles from where I live, I shop their once a month, She carries a wonderful assortment of prayer cards, statue’s, crusifixes, rosaries, books and just about anything Catholic She also will special order things for you too.
very nice place alway’s up to date on politics and whats going on in the Catholic world
I also shop here at CA & at EWTN.com to try and support all I can.
After I’m done reading then I offer to family & friends, When they are returned I donate them to our Church Library to share
I know what you mean about the christian book stores and unless your very familiar with authors you have to becareful what you buy, I found out the hard way that just because a book has Catholic in the title does not mean it is written by a reliable or charitable source.

MM

 

[Eileen_T]

rwoehmke:

Lest you short change yourself on out of print books, some of Ratzingers early works in good condition are being offered for $75 and up. You might check Amazon.com for prices on some of your out of print items. I am looking for one by Fulton Sheen on the Holy Spirit. It os not available on Amazon and the copy I have seen was published I seem to recall in the mid 30"s.

Thanks for the tip.

I’ll keep a look out for the Fulton Sheen book.

 

[Tonks40]

We have one in town only 4 miles away from home that started out as a nutrition/vitamin store. But a couple of years ago, people started talking about a “miracle” that happened in that back of the store where a statue of the Virgin Mary was kept. I’m not really sure of the details of it, but it made quite a buzz around town. Anyhoo, they started selling Catholic goods and books - currently one-half of the store is Catholic, and the other half of the store is vitamins, but they are slowly phasing it out, and I understand they will be expanding soon.

The owners of the store are parishioners at my parish - very faithful, devout Catholics. And the stuff they have in there is amazing! I’ve never seens so many books (up-to-date ones, too!), rosaries, statues, medals, scapulars - you name it, they have it! It really is the best Catholic store I’ve seen in my life!

 

[Zooey]

buflineks:

They should post a sign on the door, “Bancroft interpretations only:”

http://bestsmileys.com/lol/4.gif

 

[m134e5]

I think there are so (comparitively) few Catholic bookstores because Catholics don’t seem to like to evangelize, whereas evangelicals do (not surprising, considering their name). Many Catholics seem to think that Evangelization simply means making sure someone has food, clothes and a roof over their head- no need to say a word about religion. They cite St. Francis’ quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times- if necessary, use words.”- they fail to realize that it is almost always necessary.

 

[puzzleannie]

it is getting nearly impossible to make a profit with an independent bookstore of any kind, most of the big “Christian” bookstores are chains, or supported by big evangelical publishers like Zondervan, and most that are successful generate most of their income from gift items and music, rather than books.

also as far as parishes running bookstores, the rules and tax laws for non-profits running full service book and gift stores have changed and make it much more complex, require more overhead. Parishes that do this make little or no profit and are basically provided a subsidized service. The ones that are successful are usually attached to a major shrine of some type that is a “tourist attraction” and generates enough new traffic and new customers to make it worthwhile.

also is the general tend of first mail order and now on-line purchasing habits replaced on site shopping. a small Catholic publisher like Sophia Press has a hard time providing the same service and credit arrangements that a big publisher does with its retailers and can’t afford to wait months for payment. result the publisher and the bookstore have a hard time making it.

 

[puzzleannie]

Eileen T:

When I lived in a rural town we had a stand at the Church stocked by one of the parishioners. He only stocked books by reputable Catholic authors. Some of our parish churches have a ‘piety’ stall after Sunday Masses.
.

we have tried this in 3 parishes but no matter how big the signs are people regard anything in the back of church as free and we lose bigtime, not only does the parish get no profit but we are out of pocket

 

[TobyLue]

I know of three orthodox catholic book stores in my immediate area. There is another one in which the owner is Lutheran but all the workers are Catholic and when you go in there you think its a Catholic Book store. One of the workers once told me that they even get some anti-catholic people to come around trying to convert them because it looks very Catholic.

 

[CindyGia]

Roman_Catholic:

What was weird is that I noticed books on practicing witch craft there, even though the sign above the door said, “Christian Supply Center”

Kinda weird, no?

Yup! I’ve noticed that myself in a “Christian” bookstore I visited a couple of times before converting. They have New Age stuff!

Typical of Protestants I’m finding.

My female friend owns and operates a Catholic Bookstore - right next to an abortion clinic to boot! Each Saturday a bunch of parishioners stand across the street from the “butchery” and recite the Rosary. It has done a world of good! Less and less girls/women entering for abortions and just a couple of months ago, there was a “Suspension Notice” on the door from the Electric company. Guess their not making enough money to pay their electric bill? …

Hopefully, reciting the Rosary each week in front of the place will run him out of town completely!
Hail Mary!

 

[RCCDefender]

Roman_Catholic:

What was weird is that I noticed books on practicing witch craft there, even though the sign above the door said, “Christian Supply Center”

Kinda weird, no?

Okay, so you need to go in there again, pick up one of those books, go to the counter, and ask, “So where do you keep your rosaries?” when she says, “Sir, this is a Christian store” hand her the book and say, “Hmmm, then I guess you should send all these back…”