Berean Christian Stores has continued its expansion under new ownership with the addition of five stores to the regional chain. The Cincinnati-based group is acquiring four Provident Bookstore outlets and opening a new store in the Phoenix area, enlarging Berean's market share to 22 sites in six states.

Berean President Les Dietzman said that while the Provident stores were purchased for an undisclosed sum “I would consider this probably more of a merger than an acquisition,” noting Provident's "strong name in Christian retail for well over 50 years.”

The Provident stores-in Lancaster, New Holland and Souderton, Pa., and Wooster, Ohio-are being taken over from the Mennonite Publishing Network, which had been looking to divest itself of its retail division to concentrate on publishing. The Provident stores were “very much like ours,” Dietzman said. “They actually carry more what I would call general market products than Berean stores do; they are more progressive in some of the products that they carry. … We will be able to learn from them.”

A grand opening for the new store in Chandler, Ariz., is scheduled for Nov. 10-13.

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