storefront church

(slang) A church.

A gospel shop is old-school slang for a church — the kind of irreverent nickname that suggests the speaker views organized religion with a slightly skeptical or at least irreverent eye. It frames religion as a business or storefront selling salvation, which gives the phrase a wry, working-class edge. You'd more likely hear it from a cynical narrator in a Victorian novel than a modern podcast, but it still has enough color to land well in the right context.

(US, Canada) A shopping center consisting of a row of stores with separate entrances from the outdoors, typically along a road and/or with a parking lot in front.

(countable, Christianity) A Christian house of worship; a building where Christian religious services take place.

(US, historical) A type of retail building constructed with a timber frame.