After 75 years, landmark Metro book store closes doors

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By Eric Lewis
Times & Transcript Staff

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Five years ago, La Bonne Nouvelle book store and ministry was celebrating an unbelievable 70 years of serving Metro Moncton's church community and beyond.

Sadly, the longtime book store and ministry is marking its 75th anniversary this year by closing its doors.

The board of directors of Mission La Bonne Nouvelle announced the closure this week, citing various reasons for the closure of the St. George Street staple, including high transportation costs, closure of a major Canadian distributor leading to increased U.S. purchasing, the lower value of the Canadian dollar, increased competition via the Internet and other stores and the current economic situation.

The store is closed for now to prepare for a sale beginning Friday that will run until Saturday, June 20 when the store's 75-year history comes to an end.

It's a closure that has hit the church community hard.

"Wow," Pastor Charlene Roberts of Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church on Mountain Road repeated several times yesterday when the Times & Transcript informed her of the closure.

Roberts hadn't yet heard of the closing and she could hardly believe it when she was told.

"What am I going to do for my Sunday school curriculum?" she asked.

Roberts says Glad Tidings purchased all kinds of items from the book store over the years.

She says while the Internet is a convenient way of making purchases a lot of the time, sometimes it's just easier to drive down to the local store and pick up whatever was needed.

"It was always a positive atmosphere to shop in," she says.

Mark Jelley, executive pastor of Hillside Baptist Church on Mountain Road, says La Bonne Nouvelle provided a much-needed service to churches over several decades.

He says his church could depend on the store for curriculum recommendations and personal, friendly service.

"We'll miss them," Jelley says.

The chairwoman of the board of directors for La Bonne Nouvelle, Christine Nadeau, said in a news release: "It is hard to see this ministry end. On behalf of the French Baptist churches, we commend the staff for putting their whole heart into every day's work. They have not only supported French evangelism but ministered to countless churches and individuals over the years."

Reached in Montreal yesterday, Nadeau didn't want to comment further. She said only that it was a "very hard decision to make."

La Bonne Nouvelle harkens all the way back to 1934, when Pastor Henri Lanctin opened the first Christian bookstore in Moncton. The next year, a church was founded and, from there, Christian workers spread across New Brunswick telling French-speaking people the good word, or translated literally, La Bonne Nouvelle.

Moncton author Robert Arsenault released a book two years ago on Lanctin's life called Henri Lanctin: Messenger of Grace. The book was written in French and translated into English.

He was sorry to hear about the end of Lanctin's store and mission yesterday.

"Especially when they're celebrating 75 years," he says. "I really thought it would be a boost to the enterprise."

The store offers books, DVDS and CDs, Bibles, church curriculum including Bible studies and Sunday school programs and more.

Around 1984, a partnership was formed between Mission La Bonne Nouvelle and The Union of French Baptist Churches of Canada. For years, the mission and the book store supplied money through store profits to the ministry, primarily four French Baptist churches in the Moncton area.

The entire operation is a non-profit registered charity, operated by a board of directors. In recent years, the store hadn't made any profits it could put back into its mission.

While it served French Baptist churches, the store also sold items to churches and people of all denominations.

Nine employees, two of whom have worked at the store for longer than 30 years, will find themselves out of work after June 20.

Deb Watling, secretary of the board of directors for La Bonne Nouvelle, worked in the store for three years in the 1980s. She recalls having clients order products from as far away as the Northwest Territories.

"To me, it's very, very sad," she says. "Both the end of the book store and the end of the ministry at the moment."

Blessings Christian Marketplace in Moncton also closed up shop in the last few years, leaving local churches with fewer options to seek materials.

Pastor Roberts from Glad Tidings says she'll likely have to seek church materials online from now on.

"We're really grateful for what (La Bonne Nouvelle) did do," she says. "We're going to miss it."

La Bonne Nouvelle's closing sale kicks off Friday with sales starting at 25 per cent off. The store officially closes on Saturday, June 20. The store is located at 251 St. George Street.