ST RA I A GRO in st a i ge i ps at www chri ti anretai ing.c om FEBRUARY $7 .0 CHRISTIAN RETAILING good plan pays Francine new series The best-selling first full-length release in seven years draws on real-life events to launch a new series, page 26 TobyMac talks about The former dcTalk latest solo recording is one of 26 key new releases detailed in our Christian Product Briefing guide, from page 28 READ BY THE SUPPLIERS AND RETAILERS OF THE $4.6 BILLION CHRISTIAN PRODUCTS INDUSTRY INDUSTRY NEWS 10 RETAILERS CHOICE AWARDS 13 BOOK NEWS 20 TOP 50/50 BOOKS 26 BOOK REVIEWS 28 CHRISTIAN PRODUCT BRIEFINGS 34 INDUSTRY FORUM 37 MYSTERY SHOPPER 38 VIEWPOINT I ND EX Preparing for success involves considering the possibility of failure, page 34 Live events get a shake up conferences faced with scheduling changes, new venture AYNE AMBY Thomas Women of Faith conferences are among the most popular live events, drawing thousands to arenas nationwide and selling branded products. hristian publishers who have looked to live events as an additional revenue stream are making changes to keep things Thomas Women of Faith (WoF) and Revolve Tour conferences for women and young women face a transitional year in 2010, while Zondervan prepares to launch a new event after divesting itself of others. The majority of Women of Faith meetings for 2010 have been pushed to the fall, while the Revolve Tour has been postponed to 2011. Keeping a close eye on the changing calendar are retailers, who see inEVENTS, page 37 Holiday season deliversgloomy economy, storm mixed results Stores, suppliers despite RIC IANSAY still compiling results in early January, but several contacted by Christian Retailing The 2009 Christmas season yielded mixed were upbeat about holiday returns. had more later shoppers that came results for Christian retailers, suppliers and the Monday and Tuesday bepublishers, but they sounded fore Christmas, which was on optimistic despite an economy said Lorraine Valk, coin the doldrums, double-digit owner Banner Books Parable unemployment and a storm Christian Store of St. Joseph that hampered business. in St. Joseph, Mich. did Retail sales rose 3.6% in Noreally good business those days. vember and were totals that we usupared with a 2.3% drop in the ally had on Saturdays in Deyear-ago to cember. probably end from MasterCard Adup in December compared SpendingPulse, which to last year. Overall, I think tracks all forms of payment, Lorraine Valk the year ahead of including cash, the Associated last Press (AP) reported. Many in the Christian industry were CHRISTMAS, page 38 Stores applauded for music stand Sharp retailing keeps category share comparatively strong Aggressive pricing and smart merchandising by Christian retailers have been credited with helping them stem the tide of lost music sales in 2009. While overall music sales dropped 13% and receipts for Christian recordings sold in mainstream outlets fell 9.4%, the music slide in Christian retail stores was only 2.9%, according to statistics from the Christian Trade Music Association (CMTA), whose chairman, Greg Bays, chairman of CMTA and senior vice presid, said Christian retail music sales were much better than the 2009 MUSIC SALES DECLINE Christian recordings in mainstream outlets 9.4% Overall industry 2.9% Christian retail stores Source: Christian Trade Music Association FULL REPORT, page ER SP ECT IV Leaders Us A NDY UTCHER Christian Retailing DITOR Finding new leadership for the Christian retail industry just about appointing a replacement for Bill Anderson at CBA. Finding the right person for that position is important, for sure, but doing so will not make everything all right. What is needed about an individual, it involves all of us. PERSPECTIVE, page 38