Did You Know?!?

The Parable Group Has Benefits to Media…

• The Parable Group can provide you with bestseller lists for major product categories from its member stores free-of-charge at www.parablenews.com. Weekly, monthly and yearly bestseller lists are available for adult books, children’s video, children’s audio, music, adult video, software and Bibles.

• The Parable Group can provide Christian lifestyle statistical information and customized surveys from “Frequent Church Attendees”—including buying trends, denominational differences, and Christian media exposure.

• The Parable Group has the largest database of active religious consumers with more than 3.5 million names.

The Parable Group Has Benefits for Member Stores…

• Parable is America’s Leading Christian Retailer®, and ranks as #3 in sales for bookselling “chains” behind only Barnes & Noble and Borders.

• There are more than 330 Parable Christian Stores across the U.S. and Canada. All are locally owned, operated and individually named. Much like True Value Hardware® or FTD®, The Parable Group works to help the independent retailer survive and thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.

• Parable Christian Stores share services such as marketing promotions, catalogs, flyers, in-store point-of-purchase, promotional kits, consumer research, bulk mailing processing, and an Internet information and e-commerce site (www.parable.com).

• The Parable Group is the only marketing association that provides turnkey e-commerce sites for member stores. For $500, a Parable Christian Store can have a completely customized web site, including site maintenance, fulfillment and customer service.

• The exclusive web site for Parable Christian Stores is www.parable.com. This site provides member store listings, promotional plans for Parable Christian Stores and e-commerce. More than 70,000 items are available for sale on the web site. From November 1999 to December 1999, there was a 360% increase in sales through the e-commerce site.

• The Parable Group’s mission is to provide Parable Christian Stores innovative, Christ-centered marketing and management tools, enhancing stores’ ministry and profitability.

The Parable Group Has A Rich History….

• The Parable Group has grown from two employees in 1985 to 14 employees in 1994 to 65 employees in 2000 and is based in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Parable Fact Sheet, Page Two

• In 1985, The Parable Group started with two stores, growing to 50 stores in 1987. In 2000, there are more than 330 Parable Christian Stores in U.S and Canada.

• Parable Christian Stores were founded in 1985, when Steve Potratz created a flyer to promote his own Christian store, The Parable, in San Luis Obispo, CA. A fellow Christian bookstore owner liked the flyer, and asked Steve to print additional copies to use at the second store. Within the year, Steve was producing marketing materials for 10 other stores, and within two years, he and his marketing team were creating materials for more than 50 stores.

• Parable Christian Stores has combined cumulative store sales of more than $422 million in 1999, and a same-store sales increase of 8.5%. Parable expects cumulative store sales to top $452 million by the end of 2000.

• In 1999, Parable Christian Stores distributed 35-million consumer catalogs, newspaper circulars and specialty mailers. Circulation in 2000 is predicted to reach 40-million mailed pieces.

The Parable Group can be reached at 805.543.2644, 3563 Empleo Street, San Luis Obispo, California 93401, www.parable.com. Contact Jim Seybert at Parable or for further publicity opportunities, call Jana Muntsinger, McClure Muntsinger Public Relations, 615.370.0043.

# # #

May 2000