The 2010 Christmas season produced varied results for Christian retailers, publishers, distributors and suppliers. But they sounded upbeat despite a continuing sluggish economy, nearly double-digit unemployment and a snowstorm that impacted holiday sales.

The National Retail Federation predicted sales would top $451 billion nationwide during the holiday season, close to equaling or exceeding 2007's record year.

At Tyndale House Publishers, Dave Endrody, vice president of sales, said that "the Christmas season's results encouraged us."

The season netted sales that were "significantly above our targets, including our third best December in history," he said. "While we didn't match the highs of Christmas 2007, we were gratefully ahead in sales volume of the difficult 2008 Christmas season."

Tom Knight, Thomas Nelson's senior vice president of Christian retail and ministry development group, said that the holiday season "was positive, with sales ranging from flat to up to low double digits."

Having seen Christmas sales up each of the past seven years, Kira Brant, owner of Kira's Cottage Christian Gift and Book Store in Franklin, Ind., had "high hopes" going into the season. "I was a bit disappointed," she said. "It's definitely not the worst."

Skip Prichard, president and chief executive officer of Ingram Content Group—which includes Spring Arbor—said that Christmas sales for its Christian products distributor divisions "remained strong, in spite of a soft economy."

Read the complete report in the February edition of Christian Retailing.

• Prev
• Next