PUTNEY, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky man who transformed his porn shop into a Christian bookstore after a religious awakening has stretched a cable across his gravel drive and put his property up for sale.
"There just was not enough business to keep it open," said Michael Braithwaite, who gave up a more lucrative trade in sex toys and pornographic magazines after his baptism three years ago. "We'd go three or four days and maybe make $4 or $5. You can't keep a store open like that."
Until the property sells, Braithwaite said he will be at the store only on Thursdays in case a customer straggles in. Most of the shelves at Mike's Place are bare, and remaining books are being sold at a fraction of their list prices.
Braithwaite burned his $10,000 inventory of sexy unmentionables and restocked the small store on a Harlan County hillside with Bibles, Christian books and church supplies.
Churchgoing neighbors had done everything they could to close down Braithwaite's store when it was known as Love World and painted bright red. The local sheriff charged him with obscenity, a misdemeanor that could have sent him to jail. The charge was eventually dropped after he had his dramatic religious - and business - conversion.
In Harlan County, where there is a church around almost every corner, Braithwaite expected a Christian bookstore to be lucrative. However, he said some people couldn't overcome the fact that he once dealt in porn.
Harlan businessman Jim Creech said there is not a huge demand for products sold by Christian bookstores. Creech and his wife, Mary, operated The Bible Bookstore in Harlan for two years before it folded.
"We kept putting money into it, but it didn't pay off," Creech said.
The difficulty is that larger churches order supplies directly from publishers, he said.
Braithwaite said since people won't come to his store, he plans to take his goods to the people, selling Christian supplies at flea markets in the region.
After weeks on the market, the store remained unpurchased. Braithwaite is asking $45,000.
The Rev. Joe Howard, pastor of Putney Missionary Baptist Church, said the community is disappointed.
"I wish things had been different," Howard said. "I hate that. It's a shame."
