Andy Seal, Canadian Director of Augsburg Fortress Publishers assumed interim management of the Anglican Book Centre’s Church House store this week, pending formal completion of a deal that should see Augsburg Fortress take over the store by early summer.
The target date for implementation of the agreement between General Synod and Augsburg Fortress Canada remains June 1, with a formal launching of the partnership later that month when General Synod and the National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada spend a day together in Winnipeg.
Mr. Seal said, however, that he wanted an early start in assuming management of the Anglican Book Centre so that he could meet bookstore staff and evaluate several aspects of the retail operation before formally taking over.
The Anglican book store has been losing money for several years and the Council of General Synod last fall approved the closing of the retail store while still maintaining the mail order and web sides of the business.
Subsequent to that decision, however, Mr. Seal contacted General Synod directors and expressed an interest in taking over the book store operation. CoGS gave its approval for those negotiations to proceed at its most recent meeting last month.
Augsburg Fortress Canada is the non profit Ministry of Publishing serving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada with which the Anglican Church is in full communion.
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