Family Christian closing all 240 stores nationwide after 85 years

Family Christian, the largest retailer of Christian-themed merchandise in the U.S., has announced that it will be closing all of its 240 stores after 85 years of business.

The company, which has more than 3,000 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015 and was sold for about $55 million, according to South Bend Tribune.

Following the bankruptcy protection filing, the company expanded and upgraded its product selection, adding wider options in home decor, apparel and books. However, the reorganization and improvements in its product selection failed to attract sales.

"We had two very difficult years post-bankruptcy," Chuck Bengochea, company president, said in a statement. "Despite improvements in product assortment and the store experience, sales continued to decline," he added.

Family Christian is a non-profit business which operates a ministry that provides humanitarian aid to more than 14 million orphans, widows and oppressed people across the globe.

Bengochea said that the company was not able to negotiate terms and pricing with its vendors that allowed it to successfully compete in the market.

"We have prayerfully looked at all possible options, trusting God's plan for our organization, and the difficult decision to liquidate is our only recourse," he said.

Christianity Today reported that the company's suppliers forgave its debt of $127 million over two years ago so that it could remain open.

In 2013, it promised to donate all of its profits to widows and orphans around the world, but only $300,000 was contributed to charities over the next two years. The business generated $230 million in gross revenues in 2014, but it owed more than $90 million.

According to Publishers Weekly, the company had "assets of between $50 million and $100 million and liabilities in the same range." Its creditors included prominent publishers such as HarperCollins Christian Publishing, which Family Christian owed $7.5 million.

Bengochea pointed to changing consumer habits and declining sales as contributing factors to the decision to close down all of its stores. He also thanked those who "made concessions to try to save Family Christian."

"We are trusting God's plan for our organization, and while our hearts break, the difficult decision to close our stores is our only recourse," Bengochea added.

Family Christian Stores was founded in the 1930s, and it was bought in 2012 by three businessmen who donated it to the nonprofit Family Christian Ministries.