Delineating Sub-Genres in Your Book Department

In a store like ours which is seriously over-crowded, locating the right books in a timely way is critical.  So we have segregated some titles which are tagged with a small shelf-talker to highlight their content.

For example, our Family section has four major shelf divisions:

• Men
• Women
• Marriage
• Parenting

But then there are two shelves of special-interest and special-issues including:

• blended families and step-parenting
• single parenting
• adoption
• financial issues
• addictions
• sexuality
• singles issues
• separation, divorce and remarriage
• special issues with daughters, sons
• seniors, extended families
• children’s faith questions
• family issues
• technology
• bullying, school issues
• abuse
• considering home schooling

In our ministry section, in addition to books of interest to pastors, commentaries, etc.,we offer

• comparative religions
• comparative denominations
• women in ministry *
• church history
• classic authors**
• church planting
• ministering to postmoderns
• emerging church
• next generation writers
• Zondervan Counterpoints series***

*  Started last year as a temporary section when one church was doing an exhaustive study on this issue.
**You must be dead several years to get in this category, but C. S. Lewis survives in the Christian Living section. 
***3-5 viewpoints on a single issue, not tagged since the books stand out on their own

In our apologetics section we offer

• general apologetics
• reliability of scripture/Bible translation issues
• Bible and science (which itself has various unstated viewpoints)
• basic Bible overviews
• sharing your faith

With an army of part-time employees, it’s important that everyone is able to find everything.

Do you have little niche sections of your store that are fairly active?

Grocery stores are generally the best at highlighting items you might have missed; click the image to learn more