ST
RE spotlight
Logos Bookstore of Dallas
Logos Bookstore of Dallas opened over 50 years ago, but its story began a decade before that.
In the late 1960s, Jim Nyquist, then director of InterVarsity Press, envisioned a different kind of Christian bookstore. He wanted to create a place, located near college campuses, where people could find thoughtful books to engage their mind and their faith.
The first Logos Bookstore opened in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1968.
Four years later, Rick and Susan met on campus at an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship prayer meeting during their first week of college. By Christmas they were engaged, and two years later, in 1974, they were married.
That same year, Chuck and Lois Schechner opened Logos Bookstore of Dallas.
Rick and Susan Lewis eventually moved into the neighborhood, living just a block from the store while working at Probe Ministries. The Schechners had established a strong foundation at Logos, and in 1980 Rick began working there.
Nine years later, in 1989, Rick and Susan bought the store.
50 CRA today / www. christianretailassociation. org
They have owned and managed this unique bookstore for almost 40 years. Their storefront occupies only 1,800 square feet and is located on a five-block boulevard lined with shops, but its impact is far reaching. In 2004, Logos Bookstore of Dallas was named CBA Store of the Year. And today, they are the last independent Christian bookstore in the city of Dallas, remaining a lighthouse to their community and beyond.
Over the years, God has sustained the store through many exterior challenges— catalog sales, big box stores, e-books, online retailers, the market crash of 2008, COVID and a forced relocation when the original building was sold and torn down.
“ We have survived and thrived because of God’ s grace and the way we treat customers,” Rick shares.“ They may not remember what they bought, but they will always remember how they were treated.”
Rick believes that every customer arrives with a need. In their store, he says it is their job to determine that need and endeavor to meet it with the book or gift that best addresses it. Rick and his staff do that with active listening, eye contact and an ongoing prayer for God’ s direction in each encounter.