Yesterday I learned a valuable lesson. I needed to buy a book (Mere Christianity) for someone and did my normal…looked it up on Amazon and was just about to press the button, knowing that it would arrive within a day and that it would be cheap. However before I pressed the thought struck me – ‘why are you doing this? There is a Christian book store in the centre of your town”. So I went to CLC, bought the book. Result? It cost me £1 more, I got it instantly and I got the opportunity to support a Christian presence on the high street in my own city. CLC is a rapidly improving Christian bookstore in the centre of Dundee – should all of us who are believers in this city and who want to support this Christian witness make a habit of buying our books there more often? And if the books you want are not there – why not get them to order them in for you? The more good books you order, the more they will stock them! Lesson learned…
Perhaps all of us, wherever we are should use the ‘economic’ power that we have intelligently. Would my saving of £1 really have been worth it? What about the environmental cost of all that packaging and extra fuel? What about the jobs of those who work in the High Street? What about the ridiculous pressure that Amazon are able to put on publishers and writers because of their massive purchasing power? But perhaps most of all, what about the public witness of a Christian shop on the High Street where people can just walk in, look at books and meet at real life Christians? I’m not saying I will never use Amazon again, but I will certainly be more careful and thoughtful in my purchases. Why should I fund a massive corporation which is using some of its profits to attack Christian values when I can purchase the book I want in my local CHristian bookshop?