Celebrating
50 Years of Ministry
Logos Bookstores
by Becky Gorczyca
Some of you may remember the covers of these books : the “ hippie covers ” of C . S . Lewis ’ Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy , the retail price of Mere Christianity at 95 cents , the InterVarsity spinner loaded with titles by Francis Schaeffer , Paul Little , J . I . Packer and others .
Back then , the choices for Bible translations were less than half what they are today , and the Jesus Movement was just arriving into the Midwest from the West Coast .
College students were searching for the meaning of life as many found that the answers were not in sex , drugs and rock and roll .
Ann Arbor , Michigan : In 1968 , InterVarsity Fellowship decided to open an experimental store adjacent to the University of Michigan that sought to reach out to these searching students . This first Logos Bookstore stocked greeting cards , gifts and posters at the front of the store and books and Bibles farther back . There was seating and a staff who engaged with the students in conversations , some light and some heavy .
The manager was Jim Carlson , who later became the first executive director of the Association of Logos Bookstores and went on to establish Spring Arbor distributors , which was eventually purchased by Ingram Content Group .
12 CRA today / www . christianretailassociation . org