Page 44 - November-December Together

TOGETHER NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2021

LOOK NORTH Stornoway Christian Bookshop

Raymond and Alison Banks
celebrates seventy years on the Isle of Lewis.

Stornoway Christian bookshop is situated in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, in
the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Stornoway is the main town on the island ‘ Many congratulations to Stornoway Christian Bookshop
and is the administrative and retail centre for Lewis and Harris, with a on serving your community so faithfully for seventy
population of about 20,000. years. It is a wonderful work that you do, and it is our
joy to be part of your ministry on Stornoway. We think
The original idea for a Christian bookshop in Stornoway came from a local
minister and the vision was ‘to make available to the people of Lewis and we have been supplying you for well over twenty years,
Harris a selection of religious literature to which they would not otherwise so, thank you! We will come and visit you soon - I know
have access’. In our present day, where people have access to whatever we keep saying this, but we will! We know that God
they want through the internet, we are truly thankful that seventy years will continue to bless your work. Our very best wishes,
later, we are still supplying our island people with Christian books as well Leonard and Issy Smith,’
as Bibles, cards and gifts. Leonard Smith Publishing Ltd.

‘ We would like to offer our congratulations to Stornoway We are blessed to have many Christians who regularly buy from the
Religious Bookshop for their seventieth anniversary. Christian bookshop, and, despite not being on the main street, many
We have worked alongside them for as long as we can tourists find us. As many of them no longer have access to a Christian
remember and have appreciated their support over bookshop, due to closures in their own areas, they are often delighted to
the years. Wishing you God’s richest blessing in your discover our shop.
ministry for the years ahead.’ Last year, during lockdown, we
Raymond and Alison Banks, John Ritchie Ltd. set up our shop website. While
this has been challenging,
Moira MacPherson has been managing time consuming and needs
the shop for the last twenty years. constant attention, it is
She worked hard to find suppliers another route that, in today’s
in the early days as the stock was society, has become a
extremely limited when she took over. necessity. The CLC shop
She still remembers pouring over STL which was situated in
catalogues and desperately searching Inverness sadly closed in
for Christian suppliers! Whenever 2019 and we would love
she visited the mainland, she would to break into that area and
take the opportunity to stop at other provide a service to people
Christian bookshops and glean what in the Scottish Highlands.
she could. Reps like Stuart Anderson \We also use Facebook
and Michael Green were a great and Instagram regularly Shop interior
support and extremely helpful back as a platform to attract
Stornoway Christian Bookshop in the day! more trade.
We couldn’t run our shop without the help of our sales reps. We are
Much of the work has now been delegated to a younger member of staff,
Maighread MacPhee, who joined the staff sixteen years ago. Maighread grateful to all who have travelled north to the island over the years. They
does most of the buying except for the greeting cards which Moira still have been of great benefit to us, and we hope it won’t be long until they
looks after with great enthusiasm and passion. There are another two can start visiting again.
ladies, Chrisann and Elizabeth, who work part-time in the shop. We also very much appreciate the suppliers who provide us with our
stock. Many of these companies are in England, many miles from where
‘ Huge congratulations on your seventieth anniversary. It we are, and yet, we receive an efficient, reliable service from them all.
has been a pleasure to serve you over the years and we
appreciate your support.’ As we look back and reflect on the impact our shop has had in our town
Alan and Ruth Sayers, Teal Press. over the last seventy years, we see God’s faithfulness, goodness and
care. As for the future, we all know that is in the Lord’s hands, but we
go forward trusting in Him to lead, guide and provide for us for the next
As all of us who are involved in the retail trade know, huge changes have seventy years. Our prayer is that ‘generations yet unborn, will praise and
taken place during the last twenty years. The internet and other aspects magnify the Lord’ (Psalm 102:18 The Scottish Psalter).
of technology have completely changed the daily life of the shop. Now we
have card payments instead of cash, BACS instead of cheques, electronic Alison Banks is the General Manager of John Ritchie Ltd and Raymond
book tokens, and catalogues and reciting ISBNs over the phone have been Banks is Area Sales Manager for Teal Press and John Ritchie Ltd.
replaced by clicking and ordering online.
44 44