Who is Cedar Springs?
Cedar Springs Christian Stores is now 42 years old! Humbly beginning in 1976 in an 800 square foot store front in Cedar Springs shopping center on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville, Tennessee. Back in the day even that 800 square feet seemed large. With no customers for large blocks of time, we would often pass football in that small space without fear of knocking over the few spinner racks we had!
Click here to see the Knoxville News Sentinel’s article on our 40th Anniversary!
I’m Link McGinnis, son of the founders of Cedar Springs Christian Stores (CSCS). My father, Curtis McGinnis worked as a machinist in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. During that time he really began searching the scriptures and wanted to know more and more. Resources were scarce in that day and friends continually urged Dad to start his own Christian bookstore. A lot of prayer, a deep breath and a huge step of faith, he and my Mom, Lois McGinnis opened the store with very little knowledge of what they were getting into. They both continued to work their full-time jobs in Oak Ridge and would work on store business in the evenings. It was a family affair from the beginning. Well, I did very little as a 12 year old, I’m sure. But, my sister Vicki (now Vicki Geist) at 16 became very involved and managed some areas of the store even at that early age. (Vicki and I both still work in the stores today after short interludes in other areas)
Knoxvllians were very appreciative of the new venture and the churches were also very supportive. Little by little the store’s traffic and impact in the community began to grow – and so did the store. As small retail spaces became available on either side of our little store, Dad was able to knock down walls and enlarge his territory giving more room for those browsers of Albums (yes, in the true sense of the word – round discs which turned at 33 rpm transporting sound through a needle to tiny speakers. And, then came cassettes and 8-tracks! We were moving up in retail space and technology!
But, most of the store was managed by hand. In those days, the store ran without the aid of a computer – a what? Little bookmarks were inserted in books. When books were purchased, the bookmarks were collected and became the “list” for the next purchase order. Imagine!
We’ve come a long way since those days! Today, we operate in 27,000 sf of space. The West Knoxville store has about 16,000 sf of retail space and another 10,000 sf of office and conference room space. Obviously, computers now help with the workflow and managing inventory, for sure. But, I believe the humbleness of purpose and mission still remains. It’s always been and will continue to be about the people.
Our mission is to support the church – both the individual and the local church.
We are ministry disguised as business.
So, who is Cedar Springs Christian Store? It’s YOU! CSCS exists for you and by you. Over the years, CSCS has employed literally thousands of Knoxvillians – from the young to the seasoned. We’ve had the pleasure of working with native and transplanted Knoxvillians. All of them have had one, united mission – to serve you and support your walk of faith!
Thanks Knoxville, for letting us serve you and making Cedar Springs Christian Stores one of the premiere Christian Bookstores in the Nation!