A Christian bookstore has been resurrected after an anonymous benefactor came forward and asked the former owners to run the new business for him.

The unexpected move sees Chuck and Joanne Broderick managing Sarasota Christian Bookstore, which opened its doors in November in the Sarasota, Fla., location previously occupied by their Living Word Christian Store. The store had closed in August after the pair filed for bankruptcy.

"It's a miracle," said Joanne Broderick. "People are telling us how glad they are that there is a Christian store again. They have been saying they realize how they need us here and that they are sorry that they went online (to buy)."

The Brodericks opened their store--which included a café--in 2001, adding a second location in nearby Tampa in 2005. "Everything was going quite well," said Chuck Broderick. "Then the real-estate market stopped and that's when things started going down immediately."

The couple covered their businesses' shortfall from savings, hoping things would look up, and then turned to credit when their money ran out. But the situation did not improve, and they finally had to close both stores, losing almost everything.

Then the owner of the mall in which their main store had been located contacted them. "He said that he liked the store, that it had been good for his shopping center," said Chuck Broderick. The man--who does not want to be identified--formed a new business, with Chuck serving as president and Joanne as secretary/treasurer.

Read the full report in the February issue of Christian Retailing.

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