The following is excerpted from an article that appeared in the September 7^th edition of The Salem Evening News.

Internet bestows blessings on Christian Book Distributors

By FRANCI A. RICHARDSON

News staff

PEABODY -- Thank God for the Internet.

The people at Christian Book Distributors took a leap of faith two years ago when they created online accessibility to the already successful catalog mail order company. Today, a booming business has yielded profits that tell them they made the right move. So much so that it's hard work to keep pace with the company's sudden growth spurt. "If you're going 85 miles an hour, that's not quick enough," said CBD's president.

Concrete is just being poured for an addition to an already impressive Summit Street building that will reach nearly 300,000 square feet. The number of available products has doubled to over 60,000 and is continuing to grow rapidly. And the company's 2-year-old Internet, Marketing and Development Department now employs 20.

"It's really an exciting time to be in this business, in part because the world is changing around us," said CBD's president. "It's an invigorating time. It can also be a challenging time just because it's not just the status quo, not just business as usual."

Cliff Thornton, an Internet analyst for Probe Research in New Jersey, said Christian Book Distributors' situation is typical of the Internet's effect on nationwide book distributors. These days, Internet access is not a luxury, but a necessity, he said.

Revolutionary times

"It's changed the whole way book buying is done," said Thornton, who predicts Barnes and Noble will conduct 80 percent of its business online within the next five years. "In order to compete, at least for the mass market, you have to be online."

For Christian Book Distributors, online access -- through christianbook.com -- has led to more demand and more titles, which has led to a need for more space.

In 1996, CBD launched the Internet site, which has since been rewritten twice, making it more attractive, user-friendly and quicker. At the end of that year, the first member of the new Internet Marketing and Development Department was hired. The result: In 1998 the company doubled its title offerings within one year.

The people at CBD don't see the Internet making their catalogs obsolete. Too many people still use them. It has, however, allowed them to market more titles than can possibly fit in a catalog.

"Over time, the Internet has the potential to change the frequency of our catalog mailings ... but I don't believe the Internet is going to eliminate the catalogs for a long time to come," said CBD's president.

'Carry everything'

What they are out to do is provide customers with access to all available Christian material.

"Our ultimate goal is to carry everything that is in print that would be of interest to the religious customer -- the Christian customer, since we are focused on the Christian religion."

CBD's president has certainly come a long way. Over 20 years ago, he and his brother started Christian Book Distributors in the basement of his parents' Lynn home. In 1996,  Christian Book Distributors moved to 140 Summit St. from just across the road, where they'd been since 1984. There have since been several additions.