The Popes were awarded one of CBA's three annual Jim Carlson CBA Store of the Year Impact Awards in July, five years after moving from an 800-square-foot strip mall store in a relatively remote location to a 10,000-square-foot building on Main Street.

The new retail home was given to them by a friend who felt God had prompted him to build a new store for the Popes and let them help design it. "It's a very humbling thing to be given a building," Pat said. "We feel like stewards of all this."

Like the wise servant in Jesus' parable of the talents, the Popes have worked hard to maximize what they received. One of the results of the relocation was a major new emphasis on inspirational gifts, which in 2006 comprised 37% of the store's revenues.

"It was an easy decision to devote much of the floor space to various types of inspirational gifts," Pat said. "It just made business sense and ministry sense. Now our framed-art gallery is the same size as our whole store was when we first opened."

'Inviting Atmosphere'

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cornerstone presents shoppers with a wide-open, airy shopping experience. There are high-beamed ceilings, with windows letting the light stream in. Slate walkways run throughout the store, taking shoppers from department to department, separated by large oak columns.

The CBA award noted how the Popes have created "an inviting atmosphere" with wooden fixtures and fireplaces, and also incorporated a large wall and home décor section that displays products in "an easy-to-use manner," while the cafe area "looks more like a home."

Designing their store to reflect the feel of the surrounding mountains and countryside, the Popes follow the same mind-set in displaying gifts. Pat goes to the twice-yearly Atlanta Gift Mart trade show to get the proper outdoorsy accents for her displays. "We always add florals and greenery, flowerpots, things to enhance the displays," she said. "They vary with the seasons. We had pumpkins and grasses in the fall."

While at the Atlanta show, Pat finds what secular retailers are using to enhance visual merchandising, and she's not hesitant to bring it into the inspirational realm. For example, table lamps "to make the displays look homey," fences, wrought-iron easels, stepping stones.

"These type of things make the gift products look even better," Pat said. "The customer says, 'That would look good in my home.' "

Cornerstone's effective displays were applauded by Kent Barnard, general manager for gift company representatives Magi Marketing, who has seen many retailers in more than three decades in business.

"What John and Pat Pope have accomplished at Cornerstone is something special," he told Inspirational Gift Trends. "You feel like you have many flavors of ice cream to choose from. They have created a warm and comfortable atmosphere that flows between departments. Their displays have dimension, color, texture and have the ability to generate a lot of dollars per square foot without ever looking cluttered."

Barnard observed that the Popes understand the benefit of both fixture-based merchandising and boutique merchandising, which needs collateral materials such as flowers, fabrics and props to enhance the presentation. 

"Many stores today do not understand the importance of effective merchandising, and they may generate destination purchases but fail to grab the impulse or add-on purchase," he said. "The 'I'm just looking' customers usually walk out with something."

'Shopping Experience'

For Christian bookstores to survive, they need to realize that they are specialty stores, and being "special" is what it is all about, Barnard said. "Cornerstone is a very special store that will not only survive but flourish because they provide a shopping experience that the big-boxes and Internet commerce cannot touch."

Pat Pope acknowledged that inspirational gifts are important in helping differentiate Christian retail stores "from the big-boxes." But, even with plenty of space in which to present gifts in their new location, she and her husband have found that it's crucial to keep displays fresh and always changing.

"And, if something's not selling, we bring in something new," she said. "We have two clearance sales a year to sell those products that weren't moving."          

They have also learned the importance of really knowing their local market. While some suppliers have recently been promoting the contemporary look, "I'm not going to be able to sell that, so I'm not buying it," Pat said.

"That type of art is appealing to a younger crowd that's building their first homes," she added. "Well, they're not buying in this area. … In this area, we have a lot of tourists that tend to be wealthy. Some have a second home up here.

"They tend to like art and expensive things. I do really well with Robert Spooner (Galerie) and Carpentree framed art with scripture. When you first walk into the store, the first thing you see is our gallery. Everybody is really touched by the gallery. Many are moved to tears.

"That's what inspirational gifts should do: They should inspire—touch the heart."

Cornerstone Classics

Among the best-selling inspirational gift products at Cornerstone Christian Books, Gifts & Gallery in Boone, N.C.: