Yates-Chance steps in to fill new void in Christian retail

Published 10:45 am Saturday, June 29, 2019

In the four-plus decades that it’s called Cullman home, the Yates-Chance Christian Bookstore has filled a lot of needs for a lot of local worshipers.

Now it’s getting ready to fill another: The locally-owned, non-denominational store is about to become the area’s new brick-and-mortar provider for Baptist media publisher LifeWay Christian Resources.

In a move that stunned many Baptists nationwide, the Southern Baptist company — which with 170 stores had been the nation’s largest Christian retailer — announced in March it would shutter all of its stores and move all its product offerings online. Through a new arrangement, however, Yates-Chance has negotiated a deal that will bring LifeWay media — everything from Bibles to vacation Bible school instructional courses — into its 10,000 square-foot store in south Cullman.

“In the past, we could not sell LifeWay materials because, under their former business model, we were not eligible because we are totally independent and not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or any other denomination,” explained co-owner Donnie Chance.

“But now, we’ll be able to get the LifeWay study guides, their vacation bible school supplies; their branded book series — things that we had never been able to get in the past. It’s a pretty significant thing for Baptists in our community to have access to, in a local store, for the first time.”

Yates-Chance may be a sprawling shopping destination now, but the store has modest roots. Started in 1975 with a budget that didn’t even allow for book shelves (“Everything we sold, we sold by setting out on tables!” recalls co-owner Melanie Chance, Donnie’s wife), the original store was opened by Melanie’s parents, Melvin and Charlene Yates, in a storefront along U.S. Highway 31 in downtown Cullman — right by the old Western Auto general store.

Melanie’s gift for merchandising helped the store grow as she and Donnie took over, and by 1994, the recently-renamed Yates-Chance store moved into a newly-constructed building in the South Cullman Shopping Center. More success led to more expansion, and by 2010, the store was ready to add a completely new wing that nearly doubled its original 6,000 square-foot retail space.

With the Chances’ son Chatham already poised to step into a leading role, a third generation for the family business seems assured. But Donnie, a Fairview graduate who went to the University of Alabama to pursue a teaching career, says Yates-Chance has always operated on the philosophy that the role it plays in the community is an important one — one that’s as much a ministry as it is a business.

“Here at this store, we try to reach people, but it’s not through any denominational doctrine or rigid point of view,” he said. “It’s simple, really — we just want to reach people through Jesus Christ, and give them access to greater understanding.

“Even though I never planned to do this when I left college, I’ve been doing it ever since, and I love my job. It’s not even a job, really — it’s more like something we were called to do. We love our customers; we love talking to people and we love making friends. We’re grateful that we’ve found our place in a community that’s always been so supportive.”