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Nation's largest Christian bookstore and gift chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
The Grand Rapids Press ^ | February 13, 2015 | Jim Harger

Posted on 02/15/2015 9:50:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Family Christian Stores, the nation's largest Christian bookstore and gift chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in hopes of restructuring its debt in the face of declining sales.

The Grand Rapids-based chain said it does not expect to close any of its 266 stores in 36 states or layoff any of its 3,100 full-time and part-time employees.

"We strive to serve God in all that we do and trust his guidance in all our decisions, especially this very important one," said President and CEO Chuck Bengochea in a news release.

"We have carefully and prayerfully considered every option. This action allows us to stay in business and continue to serve our customers, our associates, our vendors and charities around the world."

Family Christian Stores' sales "have been in a steady decline since 2008," according to the petition filed this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court....

(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Business/Economy; Religion
KEYWORDS: bankruptcy; books; chapter11; economy; familychristian; fcs; grandrapids; layoffs; michigan
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1 posted on 02/15/2015 9:50:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hose your creditors - it’s the Christian thing to do.


2 posted on 02/15/2015 9:56:56 PM PST by PAR35
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is part of the hussein/holder/jarrett plan (financed by the Soros-Buffett duo) to destroy all Christian businesses in America. Their aim is to establish a caliphate where the Bible will banned and the koran (satan’s book of lies) becomes required reading. The assault on Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A is well known and this is the latest move by the force of unquenchable evil emanating from the White Hut.


3 posted on 02/15/2015 9:59:23 PM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: PAR35

In God We Trust - All others pay in cash.


4 posted on 02/15/2015 10:01:21 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: PAR35

Actually, those creditors are better off if the business keeps going and is a viable business. Just shutting down and selling off everything would really be hosing them ... :-) ...

They picked the right pathway.


5 posted on 02/15/2015 10:08:19 PM PST by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: re_nortex
Or else everyone just buys their Bibles from Amazon like they do with every other book.

http://www.amazon.com/s/url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bible

6 posted on 02/15/2015 10:12:38 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Darth Obama on 529 plans: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.)
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To: PAR35

If they did a Chapter 7 liquidation then *that* would be hosing the creditors.

Chapter 11 is an ethical alternative.

They are doing the right thing.


7 posted on 02/15/2015 10:28:42 PM PST by shibumi ("Vampire Outlaw of the Milky Way")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If their sales are down they have the wrong business model. It’s there fault and not a conspiracy.


8 posted on 02/15/2015 10:36:12 PM PST by Cry if I Wanna
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To: Cry if I Wanna

Ummm ... maybe fewer Christians these days? I guess that would be a bad business market ... in that your target customer market is dwindling into nothing in this country!


9 posted on 02/15/2015 10:52:59 PM PST by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Star Traveler

Let me just imagine they started selling books from any quack “Christian” that pays for time on TBN... or started selling books that weren’t quite Christian....


10 posted on 02/15/2015 10:54:41 PM PST by GeronL
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To: PAR35

All businesses that end go into bankruptcy or receivership. What do you expect them to do? Continue to operate at a loss? Businesses aren’t charities, even Christian businesses.

They will restructure their debt and either survive the crisis or not.

More likely they are being crushed by online sale, just like Borders.


11 posted on 02/15/2015 11:08:49 PM PST by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

FWIW, Blessing Christian Marketplace, just shut down in late January. In 2008, they closed 19 stores in Eastern Canada, leaving just four stores in the West: Calgary, Edmonton, Chilliwack and Langley, which are now all closed. There are now no Christian bookstores in Calgary. Online sellers can easily undercut ‘bricks and mortar’ bookstores, so ValJar and 0.00golfer don’t have to do anything to destroy that type of Christian business.


12 posted on 02/15/2015 11:09:54 PM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind, but now I see...)
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To: Cry if I Wanna
Don't [it anything past the current illegal regime. As a mooselimb, hussein and his conspirators are working constantly to destroy what remains of Christianity in America. He and his henchmen will not be satisfied until every citizen of this once free-Republic submits to the will of that satanic death cult. Recall that he said "America is not a Christian country" and that he thought the muzzie call to "prayer" was the most beautiful sound in all the world.


13 posted on 02/15/2015 11:11:18 PM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: Jim from C-Town

One thing, if it was reasonably easy to order something special while visiting one of their stores, they would probably get more business.

The few times I have done that, they had to haul out a microfiche. My good Lord, people, this is now the 21st century.


14 posted on 02/15/2015 11:13:13 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“Family Christian Stores’ sales “have been in a steady decline since 2008”

Hmmmm, since Obama’s regime came into office.


15 posted on 02/15/2015 11:29:36 PM PST by flaglady47 (The useful idiots always go first)
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To: flaglady47
“Family Christian Stores’ sales “have been in a steady decline since 2008” Hmmmm, since Obama’s regime came into office.

Yes, my point entirely. I also noticed that once-Christian schools have become increasingly liberal since hussein illegally seized power back then. For instance, Baylor University has been infiltrated by leftwing faculty members.

16 posted on 02/15/2015 11:39:21 PM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
One thing, if it was reasonably easy to order something special while visiting one of their stores, they would probably get more business.

You're right about that. I tried to buy what I thought was a relatively common book from one of their stores. I was told it would be in in about two weeks. And the price was quite high. I like neighborhood stores. But, very reluctantly, I went to Amazon. I got the book in three days.

17 posted on 02/16/2015 12:43:36 AM PST by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

At least one (the one that was on Alpine Avenue, just north of I-96) appears to have been gone a while, I noticed around Christmas that the entire retail space there was getting renovated and was otherwise empty (there’s a Dollar Tree behind it, I was going there). Zondervan, a local, former Bible publisher and Christian publishing powerhouse, got sold to some secular concern some years ago. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.


18 posted on 02/16/2015 2:02:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv (How do the Christian bashers on this thread correlate to supporters of the Greek socialists?)
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To: Cry if I Wanna; Star Traveler

I was last at the Christian Store, 10 minutes from me, a few weeks ago - in Jan. Saw something I wanted for a granddaughter’s birthday.

I had the mailed sales ad, and when I showed it to the clerk along with the book I planned to buy, she pointed out the sales started Feb 2nd - I hadn’t quite noticed. There was something sort of ‘tricky’ about the sales ad - probably my misunderstanding, tho, but there they had a potential sale, and lost me as a customer.
I remember what it was - certain items were on sale on certain days in Feb.
I told the clerk to tell her manager that the ad was confusing - esp for we ‘older’ folk, and I didn’t appreciate it.
There have been times when shopping, the clerk took the initiative and made the sale, even before the ‘start’ of same.
I appreciate a store that allows their clerks to make a decision in the customer’s favor. Smart.
I urged the clerk to report the incident to her manager, along with my opinion about how sales (mark-downed items) should proceed.


19 posted on 02/16/2015 3:21:11 AM PST by USARightSide (S U P P O R T I N G OUR T R O O P S)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Only “used book stores” will survive this internet market. Brick and mortar stores cannot compete with the minimal overhead of the internet shopping experience that requires only the costs of product, warehousing and shipping.


20 posted on 02/16/2015 4:07:11 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy. Cruz, that is. Texas conservative.)
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