The Washington Post’s On Faith section (@onfaith) has an article by Michelle Boorstein about the status of Christian bookstores today. Here’s an excerpt:
Although religious retail tends to be more resilient during tough economic times, the market is in tremendous flux. After several decades of intense growth in Christian books, music and films, there have been no religious blockbusters in the past couple of years to drive sales during the holiday - a time religious retailers rely upon even more than their secular counterparts.
Thousands of Christian bookstores - long the backbone of the religious retail industry - have closed in the past decade. A good part of the churn is happening in retail generally as sales go online and become more competitive and more segmented. Religious music sales have been hit hard by digital sales (and piracy).