announcement in a letter released on Friday.

“The retail landscape is changing ... and despite improvements in our product assortment and our store experience, we have not been able to generate the sales necessary to sustain our business,” the letter states. “We have fought hard because we deeply believe in our mission to help people find, grow, share and celebrate their faith in Jesus Christ.”

Bengochea said the decision to close was a result of declining sales after the company went through a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization two years ago.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company has announcements on its website about the shuttered stores and that merchandise is up to 30 percent off.

The company’s roots go back to 1931, when brothers Pat and Bernie Zondervan began a publishing house in their family’s Grandville farmhouse. Zondervan Corp. grew to become the nation’s largest Christian publishing house.

Zondervan’s bookstores were started in the 1990s as Family Christian Stores after Harper Collins purchased the publishing house, which has since been merged with Nashville-based Thomas Nelson.