Remember the days of walking into the campus bookstore, getting everything you needed and heading back out? Seminary students will no longer have that option when the United Methodist Publishing House closes the Cokesbury stores.
I buy supplies for myself and my church at the local store. Staff there always does a great job by steering me toward merchandise that meets our needs. Occasionally, it's necessary to order a product. If I can't do it through the store I almost always order from an online competitor. My experience is that the Cokesbury website is clunky and hard to use.
The main problem is that the United Methodist Publishing House wants to close the Cokesbury stores and concentrate on internet sales and phone support. I'd buy that (literally) if the site didn't seem to be substandard and if I didn't have concerns about the quality of service.
For these reasons and more, I added my name to this Change.org petition. It only takes a minute but I hope that you will join me by adding your signature to try to keep the Cokesbury bookstores open.