Where does Wesley Owen come from?
The name Wesley Owen comes from two highly respected teachers from Church history, John Owen and John Wesley. Between them they represent different streams and sections of the Christian community but both are faithful stewards of God’ Word. We aim for our stores to reflect the diversity of the Church whilst holding fast to the central message of the Gospel - salvation.
Why isn't Wesley Owen a not-for-profit company?
We don't think that profit itself is something that is unethical or unchristian. The New Testament makes clear that what counts is our attitude to wealth and how we use it that is important. We are called to use our resources to extend God's kingdom into places of darkness. Plus, the taxes paid as a commercially structured company, contribute to the needs of government and the wider community. And it's our desire that just about all our profits go towards developing the ministry of Christian retailing by establishing new stores to serve additional communities of Christians, or to improve existing stores to provide a better level of customer service.
Wesley Owen Limited
52 Presley Way,
Crownhill, Milton Keynes MK8 0ES
info@wesleyowen.co.uk
Comp. #7101486
VAT #974849749
Does Koorong Books own Wesley Owen?
Yes - the family owned, Australian company, Koorong Books Pty Limited bought eight Wesley Owen stores in December 2009. See store locations. Wesley Owen Limited is part of the Koorong family of companies.
Where does the name Koorong come from?
Koorong began over 30 years ago in the garage of the Koorong Street home of Bruce and Olive Bootes, hence the distinctive name – which, we believe, is also an Indigenous term for waterhole, oasis or meeting place.
Is Koorong a Christian company?
Yes – Koorong's founders and current owners (members of the Bootes family) are all practising Christians.
What is Koorong's objective?
From humble beginnings Koorong has grown to18 stores Australia-wide and a thriving Web Store. Koorong has remained committed to spreading God's Word and building up the body of Christ by providing an extensive range of Christian books, Bibles, music, software, DVDs, gifts and more at the lowest prices.
Koorong is excited to now have the opportunity in the UK to share in the important ministry of providing quality Christian resources that offer guidance and encouragement to the Church, and introduce others to the good news of Jesus Christ.
I want to open a franchise. How do I do it?
Wesley Owen does not currently operate on a franchise basis. The management of Wesley Owen feel that in order for a franchising operation to run smoothly, Wesley Owen would need to provide franchisees with a complete package of our computer system tools, a strong retail marketing program and operational support. These systems are crucial for stores to provide the level of customer service expected from a Wesley Owen store. At this stage we have not been able to package these systems in a form that would be practical for a franchisee to use. If at a later date Wesley Owen is able to provide franchises, this information will be added to our website.
How does Wesley Owen screen its products? Is each book read before buying it?
Wesley Owen's decisions on what products to stock are always guided by our mission statement. We will only stock a product if we believe it "will be of spiritual benefit to the body of Christ".
Wesley Owen stocks an extensive range of items, so it would be impossible to read all the books before ordering them. However, we rely on the integrity of the publishers we use, many of whom are members of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). As members of this association, the publishers affirm and uphold a statement of faith that is essentially identical to that of the US-based National Association of Evangelicals. http://www.ecpa.org/
If a publisher is not a member of the ECPA, we screen their products more carefully before stocking them. Wesley Owen aims to carry a broad range of opinions to stimulate thought and debate.
DVD REGIONS
For copyright and other legal reasons DVD players and DVDs are labelled for specific geographical regions in the world. There are six major geographical regions, with additional regions reserved for specialised use.
UK is in region 2, so most DVD players sold in the UK are region 2 specific and will only play region 2 or 0* (all regions) discs (not region 1 discs). Non-region specific DVD players are able to play discs from all regions.
At Wesley Owen we only stock DVDs from region 1, 2 and 0. European region 2 DVDs may be sub-coded "D1" to "D4". "D1" are United Kingdom only releases; "D2" and "D3" are not sold in the UK and Ireland; "D4" are distributed throughout Europe.
If you are unsure about the particular region number of a DVD, please check the back of the DVD package or ask one of our friendly staff.
* Please note there is a small chance you may also have problems playing region 0 discs if your DVD player is region 2-specific.
DVD COUNTRY CODE
Code Region
0 All regions
1 Bermuda, Canada, United States and U.S. territories
2 The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland, United Kingdom
3 Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan
4 Australasia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America
5 The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, Indian , Mongolia, North Korea
6 Mainland China
7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and "media-copies" of pre-releases in Asia)
8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.
ABOUT BLUE-RAY DISC
Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the latest optical disc format and is quickly replacing DVD. Blu-ray represents a huge leap forward in the DVD viewing experience and offers consumers an unprecedented High Definition (HD) experience. Developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video HD, it is also capable of storing large amounts of data - more than five times the capacity of traditional DVDs - up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This means movies will have a sharper picture, in fact, HD offers five times the amount of detail compared to standard-definition (SD), vivid colours and up to 7.1 channels of perfect HD sound.
Plus, there's plenty of room for extra content and special features, such as menu overlay - e.g. allowing you to overlay the director's ideas about a scene while it's playing. Blu-ray's advanced interactivity combined with its networking features will also allow new innovative features such as downloading extras, updating content via the web, and watching live broadcasts of special events.
To be able to play Blu-ray Discs, you need a HDTV (High Definition Television), a Blu-ray Disc Player and HDMI cable.
BLU-RAY COUNTRY CODE
Code Country
A. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea (East Asia -except Mainland China
and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, North America, South America and
Central America
B. Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia and Kazakhstan), Oceania
(including Australia and New Zealand) and their dependencies.
C. Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South
Asia, Russia, China
TV STANDARDS
PAL (Phase Alternating Line)
NTSC (National Television System Committee)
Antiqua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Korea (South), Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saipan, Samoa, Surinam, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Trinidad, Tobago, United States, Venezuela, Virgin Islands
FAQ Topics
Postage
Wesley Owen offers customers the lowest possible postage rate, which is economical and good value. In fact when the costs of postage, insurance, labour and packaging are added up in processing an order, Wesley Owen actually subsidises some of the cost. And when you spend £5 or over, postage is absolutely free anywhere within the UK!
What are your bulk discount prices?
Wesley Owen is very happy to offer bulk discounts. The discount available depends on the cost of the item and the number of these items in stock. Customers need to contact their nearest Store Manager to negotiate this discount.
