Black Friday week sales showed “striking growth and a continuing recovery” for Christian stores, says CBA.

Sales at suggested retail spiked 32.8% compared to 2010 for the Monday-through-Saturday week that included Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving that is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season, according to the trade association’s CROSS:SCAN sales data. Unit sales also skyrocketed with total units sold for the top 10 best-selling products up 109.8% and the top 50 best-sellers up 110.7% from 2010.

Reporting weekly P.O.S. sales data from more than 600 Christian stores, CROSS:SCAN showed that the top-selling title for Black Friday week was Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson) followed by Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson) and Come to the Well by Casting Crowns (Beach Street Records/Provident Distribution).

This year, Black Friday week included Small Business Saturday, a national buy-local promotion sponsored by American Express that encouraged consumers to buy from local businesses.

Cedar Springs Christian Store in Knoxville, Tenn., drew customer traffic by hosting Casting Crowns on Saturday. “It’s a pretty big deal, especially to have them here this weekend,” Cedar Springs Marketing Director Sonja Moore told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Casting Crowns recently won a 2011 American Music Award, winning for “Favorite Artist” in the Contemporary Inspirational category. The awards were announced Nov. 20 during a live broadcast on ABC.

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