A Brief History

Our store was started in 1964 as Child Evangelism Fellowship Bookstore. It was located in a house on Monroe Street in downtown Ft. Myers. In 1973 the store was moved to South Plaza in South Ft. Myers, occupying 960 square feet. This area is now in the middle of the music department. At the same time the name changed to Christ Centered Book & Music reflecting, more accurately its merchandise line. In the years to follow the store was expanded and remodeled several times while remaining in the same shopping center.

The Lord put in Danny and Ginette Vera’s hearts to start a Spanish bookstore to fill a need in Southwest Florida and in September of 1997, Librería Cristiana Hosanna, was birthed. This store was 700 square feet and was located on Fowler Street. In less than a year, they out grew this spot and moved to a 1000 square foot location on Carrell Corner also on Fowler Street. The following year the bookstore moved two doors down in the same center to a 2,700 square foot location so, Hosanna Bilingual Christian Bookstore, was born. Before four years passed, on March 18, 2001, Danny and Ginette took sole ownership of Christ Centered Book & Music and renamed it The New Christ Centered Book and Music, a ministry of Hosanna Book and Music, Inc.

In the midst of these changes, the doctors informed The Vera’s that they could not have children but God had other plans. On October 6, 1998, David Andres Vera was born, on October 31st, 2000, Adrian Daniel was born and on May 31st, Gabriella Esther was born.

"The New" has since been dropped and the Lord has enabled us to shine our light even greater through some recognition that has been accomplished through His grace and power: In 2002, Christian Retailing Magazine noted CCBM as one of the Top 30 Christian independent stores in the nation and one of the Top 5 in the state of Florida. Christian Retailing Magazine has not listed the performance rating of its retailers since that issue. Also, in 2002, Oswald Trippe and Company, Inc. bestowed their prestigious "2002 Southwest Florida Blue Chip Community Business Lee County" to CCBM. In 2004, and again in 2005, Integrity Media, one of the largest Christian music companies, named CCBM one of their "Bookstores of the Year". In 2005, Barbour Publishing, one of the largest Christian Publishing Companies, named CCBM "Top 100 Bookstores of the Year".

Today, we continue to be very involved in the community offering one of the finest selections of Christian products in Florida. Throughout the year we host multiple events aimed at pastors, church secretaries, Christian education workers, youth pastors, families, homeschoolers, and many more. We also partner with other local ministries and support community events like diaper drives, toy drives, hurricane relief, Bibles for prisoners, shoes and glasses for children in Latin America, Christmas gifts for children in war torn countries, and much more.

Because of their strong belief that strong families make up strong communities, the Vera’s continue to branch out by bringing a national franchise, Pump It Up "The Inflatable Party Zone" to Ft. Myers. This facility opened in August of 2007 and it is a place for families to celebrate birthday parties and church groups to host special events.

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