Colorado Springs, CO—CBA’s new Town Center, the nearly 12,000-square-foot central hub of the International Christian Retail Show’s exhibit floor, is an area designed to inspire Christian stores and industry vendors about the power of physical stores in a digital world. Christian stores provide a sense of place that could never be duplicated online, and Town Center reflects that gathering place concept as an area for meeting, engagement, and interaction.
ICRS, the trade show for the Christian resources industry, is July 10-13 in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center.
Designed with four main concepts in mind (ministry, learning and innovation, customer service, and communications), the Town Center’s central stage offers presentation opportunities for new products, services, resources, and ministry. The Ministry in Action area provides a way ICRS attendees may help two Atlanta-area children’s and family ministries by assembling new bicycles for them, sponsored by Spring Arbor, an Ingram Content Group company. The Cyber Café, sponsored by Signature Websites, keeps attendees connected via e-mail and Internet access. And the Innovation Area aims to inspire retailers to connect with customers in new and effective ways.
The Innovation Area looks to the future with resources to help retailers better engage and serve customers. New CBA service provider SnapRetail has the largest wholesale multi-product line website in the gift, home-décor, and collegiate industries. Website orders exceeded $10 million during its first three years of operation, with more than 33,000 registered users and more than 13,000 unique weekly visitors. The affordable and easy-to-use marketing solution helps retailers connect with customers using the latest social-media techniques to present products and build community around the store.
- On Demand Books will bring an operational Espresso Book Machine, a print-on-demand machine small enough and reliable enough to operate inside stores to serve local pastors, authors, and readers.
- WinePress Publishing’s Retail Connections will show how retailers might generate new business working with local self-published authors.
- Christian Store Week representatives will showcase ministry and how easy it is to make your Christian Store Week campaign effective and powerful. Retailers may register there for the Oct. 1-10 event to drive traffic and sales to Christian stores.
- Merch It, in cooperation with Christian retailers, will demonstrate latest “lifestyle” merchandising techniques that help define stores in relation to customers and their expectations. The results of live design and display creations will remain on exhibit throughout the show.
- Thoughtful Books is a Town Center exhibit that demonstrates how to build an effective destination category around foundational classics and academic, scholarly, and current affairs titles that speak to church leadership, individuals, and other serious students of Christianity. A free assortment of books will be given away to help start or expand a store section.
- The Town Center stage is the center attraction. In addition to short presentations on many retailer-directed programs, the stage will host performances by Committed and The Duggar Family. Committed is the six-man a capella group that won NBC-TV’s hit series Sing Off competition. The 19-member Duggar family, stars of the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, also will sign autographs in the Town Center’s Personality Booth.
- Town Center also offers food services and refreshments for meals and snacks to make meetings easy. WinePress Publishing is hosting free coffee in Town Center.
- The CBA Member Services and Information desk is in Town Center, along with many of the CBA service providers who bring the industry group discounts on services and products¾from freight to payroll and accounting to insurance and more.
Town Center Stage Schedule
MONDAY, JULY 11
9:30 AM SnapRetail, Engaging and Connecting with Customers
10:30 AM Duggar Family Performance, Sponsored by Howard Books
11:00 AM Ginny Yttryp, Sponsored by B&H Publishing
11:30 AM Laura Kaczor, Sponsored by EMI CMG
12:00 PM Create Lifestyle Merchandising that Connects with Customers
12:30 PM Espresso Books Print-On-Demand
1:00 PM CBA Registration iPod Drawing
1:30 PM Retailer’s Connection, Sponsored by WinePress
2:00 PM Retailer’s Connection, Sponsored by WinePress
2:30 PM Chelsea Eubank and the Wear iT Wednesday Outreach
3:00 PM Worthy Publishing
3:30 PM Committed Performance
4:30 PM Christian Store Week
5:30 PM Industry Prayer Meeting
TUESDAY, JULY 12
9:30 AM Signature Websites: Growing Your Store by Driving More In-store Traffic and Sales
10:30 AM Siriani: Service for Customer Returns; Managing Fuel Surcharges
11:00 AM Create Lifestyle Merchandising that Connects with Customers
11:30 AM Thoughtful Books: Creating an In-store Destination
12:00 PM Christian Store Week
12:30 PM Print On Demand
1:00 PM Wayne Batson, Sponsored by AMG Publishers
1:30 PM Retailer’s Connection, Sponsored by WinePress
2:00 PM Retailer’s Connection, Sponsored by WinePress
2:30 PM Meadowbrook Insurance Solutions: Earning Dividend Payments from Insurance
3:00 PM SnapRetail, Engaging and Connecting with Customers
3:30 PM Paychex
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13
9:30 AM Thoughtful Books: Creating an In-store Destination
10:30 AM Meadowbrook: Earning Dividend Payments from Insurance
11:00 AM Siriani: Service for Customer Returns; Managing Fuel Surcharges
11:30 AM Paychex
12:00 PM Signature Websites: Growing Your Store by Driving More In-store Traffic and Sales
Town Center Personality Appearances
MONDAY, JULY 11
11 AM – The Duggar Family, Sponsored by Howard Books
1 PM – David A.R. White, Sponsored by Pure Flix Entertainment
TUESDAY, JULY 12
10 AM. – Judy Salisbury, Sponsored by Messianic Jewish Publishers
11 AM – Patricia Canini, Gayle Ottenmiller, John Wagner, Sponsored by WinePress Publishing
12 Noon – Rachel Lampa, Sponsored by Black Fuel Music
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13
10 AM – Jeanette Sharp, Robert Wilkerson, Marie Shull, and Clark Burbidge, Sponsored by
WinePress Publishing
http://ChristianRetailShow.com
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