Solange De Santis

Andy Seal and Lorraine VanSchaik, both of Augsburg Fortress, are managing the transfer of the Anglican Book Centre to Augsburg.

Lutheran bookseller Augsburg Fortress officially took control of the Anglican Book Centre in June, ensuring that the Anglican Church of Canada’s retail bookstore in Toronto will remain open. (The partnership between the two churches was noted at General Synod at a day of celebration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church.) As previously reported, the Anglican church announced last year that the storefront, due to continuing losses, would close in favor of an Web- and phone-based operation.

Management by Augsburg Fortress now means economies of scale, such as merger of two telephone ordering systems and distribution centres, said Augsburg Fortress director Andy Seal. “My view is that the merger will make both organizations stronger and will eliminate the losses by the end of the year,” he said in an interview. Two Anglican Book Centre employees were laid off as a result of the merger, he said. The Anglican Book Centre is an internationally-known retailer of books, vestments and other church supplies.