Koorong
Koorong is a Christian bookstore chain operating across Australia. It is one of the two largest retailers of Christian books and media in Australia, along with Word book store chain.
[edit] History
Koorong is a family-owned company that began over 30 years ago[1] in Marsfield, Sydney, in the garage of the Koorong Street home of Bruce and Olive Bootes,[2] a Reformed baptist pastor and his wife. In 1978, their son, Paul began the management of his family’s bookshop business.[3] Koorong opened their first Sydney store in Ryedale Road, West Ryde in 1978, moving to larger premises in West Parade, West Ryde in 1995.[4] In August 2005, Koorong took over the three Church Army bookstores at Newcastle, Tamworth and Gosford.[5]
Koorong now operates 18 stores across Australia,[6] including Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Launceston, with approximately 400 staff, Australia-wide[7] and a brochure mailing list of about 120,000.[8] Koorong was described in 1994 as theologically conservative in terms of the books it sold, which was consistent with its Reformed baptist roots.[9] Since that time, its product range has grown and widened[10] to the point that it sells books ranging from Banner of Truth titles by Iain Murray[11] and a variety of Matthias Media titles[12] to titles by well-known Pentecostal pastor Brian Houston,[13] faith-healing televangelist Benny Hinn[14] and Prosperity Doctrine advocate Kenneth Hagin,[15] as well as a number of dietary books.[16] It has been asserted that most of the titles found at Koorong (and Word) nowadays are by American authors.[17]
In December 2009 Koorong purchased UK based book publisher Authentic Media and 8 of the Wesley Owen retail outlets from IBS-STL.[18]
[edit] Notes
- ^ ASIC. "Company Name Search". http://www.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-bin/gns030c?acn=001583759&juris=9&hdtext=ACN&srchsrc=1. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ^ See the Koorong General FAQ webpage. Retrieved on 8th May 2009.
- ^ See a brief profile of Paul Bootes on the Gospel Music Association Board Profile webpage. Retrieved on 8th May 2009.
- ^ See the Koorong History page for these dates.
- ^ See the Church Army August 2005 newsletter. Retrieved on 7th May 2009.
- ^ "Koorong: Store Info". http://orders.koorong.com/info/store/. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
- ^ As reported on 2nd August 2005 in a Mitel Press Release. Retrieved on 7th May 2009.
- ^ As at November 2004. The Australian Prayer Network thanked Koorong for mailing out its prayer newsletter in Koorong's monthly catalogue, with a size of 120,000. Retrieved on 11 May 2009. The August 2005 Mitel case study also gave a figure of about 120,000. Retrieved on 12 May 2009.
- ^ See the Association for Research in Education 1994 paper by Robert Long. Retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ Koorong advertises on its website that it has 150,000 Christian products.
- ^ See Koorong's list of Iain Murray's titles. 29 titles retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ See Koorong's list of Matthias Media titles. 25 titles retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ See Koorong's list of Brian Houston's titles. 67 items retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ See Koorong's list of Benny Hinn's titles. 41 titles retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ See Koorong's list of Kenneth Hagin's titles. 41 items retrieved on 11 May 2009.
- ^ See Koorong's list of dietary titles. 32 titles retrieved on 11 May 2009, including the Hallelujah Diet and Daniel's Diet.
- ^ See Charisma Magazine article entitled "What's Happening Down Under" dated 27 July 2007. Retrieved on 12 May 2009.
- ^ "STL Distribution: IBS-STL UK Trade Announcement". http://stldistribution.blogspot.com/2009/12/ibs-stl-uk-trade-annoucement.html.
[edit] External links
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