News

Living Oasis announces third closure in 10 days

04.07.11 | Lisa Campbell

Christian book chain Living Oasis has announced its third store closure in just over a week, with Weston-super-Mare the latest branch to cease trading.

Ray George, head of the Nationwide Christian Trust, which owns the chain, said the shop will close “within two weeks”, making two staff redundant.

This follows the closure of the Nottingham and Worthing branches just over a week ago, where seven people in total lost their jobs. In March and May, Living Oasis also announced it was shutting six other branches, including Edinburgh. The new closures reduce the once 19-strong book chain, all formerly Wesley Owen bookshops, to just 10.

George said he has been liaising with church leaders in every Living Oasis bookshop location to raise financial and moral support to turn the booksellers into “phase two stores”, which would also include a coffee shop and “community space.” However, he has been unsuccessful in Nottingham and Worthing and now Weston-super-Mare. “All the shops which have closed were losing money which we cannot afford to sustain. We want to support them but we cannot drive it ourselves,” George said.

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By Phil Groom

I think you'll find it's only 8 branches left now, of which only 6 are currently trading:

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Chester, Cheshire
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Leeds, West Yorkshire*
Liverpool, Merseyside*
Manchester
South Woodford, London
Watford, Hertfordshire

* Leeds and Liverpool remain temporarily closed pending "Phase 2" developments.

Official branch list:
http://www.livingoasis.co.uk/locations/

My overview:
http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/qa/wesley-owen/living-oasis/

Mon, 04/07/2011 - 12:37
By Phil Groom

Heard yesterday that Chester will also be closing down this month...

Wed, 06/07/2011 - 10:03

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