Nationwide chain Family Christian Stores recently opened a store in Rancho San Diego. They join Escondido, Chula Vista and nearby Santee in serving people seeking Christian merchandise—not just bibles, but apparel, crafts, music, video, and a variety of other spiritual gifts.
Nationwide chain Family Christian Stores recently opened a store in Rancho San Diego. They join Escondido, Chula Vista and nearby Santee in serving people seeking Christian merchandise—not just bibles, but apparel, crafts, music, video, and a variety of other spiritual gifts.
The Rancho San Diego store is well stocked from floor to ceiling, even with a back room, of just about everything the faithful might need. The employees—from the second you walk in to the moment you leave are ready to help, and are simply welcoming.
“Our goal is to provide the best customer service to everyone that walks through our door,” said Carmen Pascual, store manager. “We pray as a team and try and show compassion, friendship and God’s love to everyone.”
It held its grand opening from Jan. 9-19. With the help of sponsors, sweet treats like cake and baklava, raffle prizes, gift cards, giveaways and return discount coupons were part of the opening celebration. Family Christian Stores is hoping that word gets out about its new location, because when business is good, the business is able to do good and give back.
What many potential customers may not realize is that Family Christian Stores is a non-profit retail business.
“Our mission is to take care of widows, orphans, foster children and children in general,” said Pascual.
On the Family Christian Stores website, campaigns against human trafficking and orphanages are listed as supported by the chain. Locally, Family Christian Stores is involved with community causes, while still being part of global action.
“We go on mission trips all over the world to help those in need, we work with various wonderful organizations including World Vision, Back to Back Ministries, East County Pregnancy Care Center,” Pascual said.
Pascual is very excited to offer the iDisciple ministry, which is a web-based digital platform providing access to Christian content. With more than 150,000 articles, bible studies, devotionals, music, video, audio and movies, as Pascual said, “customers can customize it to suit their needs, including subjects such as marriage, parenting, finances, dealing with loss. The best part of this ministry is that whenever a customer signs up for iDisciple, we send a full year’s subscription to a military family as well as an MP3 player that has the gospel in it.”
Family Christian Stores have figured how to use technology, retail, and just good, old-fashioned friendliness to reach and help others, but the interaction found within the store ranges from a quick “Hello, nice to see you” during a stop in for a t-shirt to in depth discussions among customers, who feel at home there.
“Check out our variety of items and sales, say hello, and we will even pray with you if you wish,” said Pascual.
The Rancho San Diego Store is located at 2518 Jamaica Road, Suite 301, El Cajon, 92019. The store phone number is (619) 579-3230. Find them online at www.familychristian.com.
