STORE CLOSING! EVERYTHING ON SALE! EVERYTHING MUST GO!
I hate the street-walking placard-bearers but they must work because even my LifeWay store uses some.
When I first moved back to Georgia in 1997, the closest LifeWay was inside the Atlanta perimeter. If I wanted to visit the store I’d have to have a plan for assaulting the gates of highway and traffic hell to get to the store. I’d just as soon stick a shard of glass in my eye as drive inside Atlanta. Then they opened a new store in the Atlanta exurbs, near the largest mall in the state. It was much easier to get to the store and I could spend my own money, not just the church’s, shopping at the mall and stores nearby.
Here’s an informative example of why LifeWay is closing ALL of their retail stores: LifeWay opened a new store in my town. It is easily accessible, bright, new, and clean…and I’ve never been there. It wasn’t because of their stock or the Jesus junk that they carry, nor the overpriced, sappy Kinkade schtick. It was because a brick-and-mortar Christian, denominational bookstore was simply no longer relevant to my life. Things change.
The only LifeWay stores I’ve been in for the past number of years are the ones set up at the conventions, and I don’t recall buying anything from them, just browsing.
Still, it was with some sadness that I drove by and saw the placard bearers and the bold, screaming signs.
So long, LifeWay stores. You had a good life.
