CBD Buys Gift Cataloguer

by Lynn Garrett, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 12/8/2006

Christian Book Distributors, which calls itself “the largest religious catalogue company in the world,” has purchased Best to You, a Christian catalogue and Internet gift retailer. Best to You was founded in 1980 to sell Christian gift items and home accessories and has developed many proprietary products over the years. In a statement , CBD president Ray Hendrickson said, “CBD sends out over 60 mailings of unique catalogues to millions of customers each year.” Products include books (more than 200,000 titles), Bibles, CDs, DVDs, gifts, toys and games. Christianbook.com, CBD’s Web site, is a five-time recipient of the BizRate Circle of Excellence Platinum Award.

As part of the transition, the Colorado Springs, Colo., office of Best to You will close and some senior staff will join CBD as temporary consultants. Said Hendrickson, “Although CBD has had its own extensive, and very successful, gift and home product line for 10 years, including many CBD exclusive products, the acquisition of Best to You will allow us to take the best attributes of each company’s individual catalogue and product offerings and develop one line that continues [our] emerging strength in the Christian gift [market].”

Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close on January 2, 2007, were not disclosed.