‘Alpha’, one of the largest chain of Christian bookshops in Germany, announced that it is filing for insolvency. 

15 stores and 88 employees are affected.

The aim now is to save as many jobs as possible and to find an investor for the profitable bookshops.

‘Alpha’ is based in Giessen in central Hesse and operates branches in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The eleven franchise bookshops that use the ‘Alpha’ brand but are legally independent are not affected by the insolvency.

Season losses, high costs and low income

Due to “losses in the past Christmas season, increased wage costs, changes in purchasing and payment behaviour and the general economic situation of the book trade”, the restructuring of the company “has not been as successful as expected”.

Alpha managing director, Klaus Meiß, told German news website Pro Medienmagazin that “another reason for the insolvency of the bookshop chain is the fact that individual branches were not generating enough income, because of the high operating costs and rents, among other things”.

Furtheremore, “the online and mail order business is not profitable for ‘Alpha’, and the corporate structure at the head office also generates too high costs, particularly in terms of personnel”, underlined Meiß.

The added value of Christian bookshops

The managing director explained that “in the Christian bookshops, there are always personal, pastoral conversations with customers about faith, and in the end, the customer just might buy a postcard. That is not profitable, but it is added value that we offer”.

However, Meiß does not see the core Christian offering of ‘Alpha’ as an obstacle to profitability and, despite the insolvency, he said he expects that “eight to ten shops could continue to operate”. The chain's total turnover recently totalled around eight million euros.

Other Christian bookshops in Europe have also struggled to adapt to difficult context. Many local evangelical retail have closed and larger chains such as CLC in Spain also had to finish its activity.