Christian bookshop closes its doors
A Christian bookshop has closed - two years after being saved.
The Wesley Owen shop at The Forum was closed yesterday.
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Wesley Owen bookshop
Bath City Church, which is its landlord, announced on Facebook: “It is with sadness we announce that the Wesley Owen shop in The Forum has been closed by its owners.
“Unfortunately the company that owns Wesley Owen has now ceased to trade. Do pray for them as this is a difficult situation for all the staff and personnel involved.
“Wesley Owen is a totally separate organisation from Bath City Church. Wesley Owen has been renting space from us to provide the city with a Christian bookshop.”
The chain which owned Wesley Owen hit financial problems in late 2009 but it was bought by Australian firm Koorong.
Today other stores run by Wesley Owen were still operating, but the firm’s website confirmed that those in Bath and Bristol had been shut.
It said: “It is with great regret that we have to inform our customers of the immediate closure of the Wesley Owen store in Bath.
“The recent economic conditions and the shift to online and digital books sales have meant for extremely challenging trading for High Street book retailers. So we took the regrettable decision to permanently close this store as of Tuesday 24th January 2012. We are aware of the implication of this decision for our staff and our customers, and are truly sorry to have to do this.”
It added: “We are genuinely sorry to have to inform you of this decision, which was taken after much prayer and consideration. We recognise that we had a highly committed team working in the store, and this closure should in no way be construed as a reflection on the hard work of the team, which was very much appreciated and will be missed.”
On Facebook, Christians expressed their sadness.
One said: “Very sad! We still need a Christian bookshop!”
But another commented: “It is sad news. However replacing with another Christian bookshop wouldn't be the solution. Things have swung in favour of online retail and it will only continue to go that way.”
2 Comments
by RevdRichard
Thursday, January 26 2012, 9:44AM
“As the manager of this branch for the past three years I would very much like to thank all our customers for their kindness and their support. It has been a challenge to serve you in such difficult economic times and I am truly sorry that the continued losses of the chain of shops were no longer sustainable and our owners have had to close the stores. Then end for Bath and Bristol wias very quick and will take a while to get used to.
Meanwhile, while the high street rents in our major cities combined with the strength of online retailing and the weakness of the economy are making trading for all retailers, especially booksellers, extremely tough, I strongly believe that there is still a need for physical specialist Christian and theological bookselling in the south west. And to this end, and in very tight circumstances I am now working hard to create a small bespoke bookselling service trading from churches to cover some of the work of the two Wesley Owen stores, but which will also be available for events and for a variety of church and community functions.
It is hoped that we might begin to start trading from St Michael's, Broad Street very soon, initially on a temporary basis until something more permanent can be secured.
I have included our web address in the CC line above, further details are below:
our email: windflower.books@btinternet.com,
our blog: (http://tinyurl.com/7tox9c3),
our Facebook page (Windflower Books),
or our Twitter feed (windflowerbooks).
A selection of our stock is available online at:
http://tinyurl.com/7ashsyp
telephone: 01275 461179
If you know of a church site in the area which would like to host a regular bookstall then do please contact me.
Revd Richard Greatrex
Formerly manager of Wesley Owen, Bath and SPCK, Bristol”
by joning
Wednesday, January 25 2012, 8:18AM
“Slightly hysterical elements here, much prayer and consideration?”