CHRISTIAN BOOKSELLERS ENTER SUPER STORE SCENE.

Byline: Gustav Niebuhr The New York Times

At first glance, Kenneth Hite's bookstore invites comparison with any number of polished, specialty retailers who cater to the leisure-time tastes of the suburban middle class.

Visible from the main entrance is a gleaming new coffee bar serving espresso and snacks, with seating for 30. Nearby, a big-screen television plays animated children's films. Around a corner, neon lights indicate a counter where customers put on headphones to listen to rock music on compact discs. In another section, shoppers can browse among art prints.

But the contemporary appearance encases an older message: The books, music, T-shirts and art all proclaim faith in Jesus Christ. ``It's sort of like a Christian Borders Books,'' said Debbie Banhart, 47, a kindergarten teacher from nearby Overland Park, shopping with her husband, Rick.

As such, Hite's 17,000-square-foot Christian Book and Gift Shop, a block off Interstate 35, is part of a nascent revolution in a venerable sector of the American marketplace: religious bookstores, where the principles of faith and business intersect. It is one of a growing number of what some people call Christian super stores.

Across the nation, in places like Olathe, 20 miles southwest of Kansas City, Christian bookstores have existed for decades, usually as small, husband-and-wife enterprises, geared to providing churches with Sunday school curriculum and the devout with the latest Bible commentary. Owners tend to regard their work more as ministry than profit-maker.

But these days, feeling the heat of secular competition in a $3 billion-a-year industry, a small but growing number of such retailers are updating their approach, doubling or tripling sales space, adding staff, installing better lighting and furnishings, even putting in cappuccino machines.

The new spaces are enhanced by a much more diverse and market-savvy line of merchandise. The books, for example, range far beyond Bible commentary to include thriller fiction, personal advice and self-help, and the latest political criticism.

``Upscale,'' said Robert K. Streight, a Greenview, Ill., specialist in store planning, ``is obviously where Christian stores are moving.''

In the evolution of these stores, two trends appear to be at work. On one hand, sociologists note that evangelical Protestants, long the customer base of Christian booksellers, have grown in affluence and discretionary income, as they have also gained in political influence.

At the same time, owners of religious stores say they are feeling increasing competition for customers from nonreligious retailers, particularly the national bookstore chains that have expanded their religion sections to take advantage of a growing interest in spirituality. The Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain, for example, has increased the number of religious book titles it offers by at least 35 percent since 1993.

``Retailing in general has grown in its sophistication and professionalism,'' said Bill Anderson, president and chief executive of the Christian Booksellers Association, a national trade group that represents about 4,000 stores, the majority of which are modest operations.