Curtis Riskey cites long-distance management challenges in ‘tough’ decision

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey has shuttered his own store four months after taking on the leadership of the retailers association.

The difficulties in running the business from a distance—BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) Books and Cafe was in Oshkosh, Wis., while Riskey is based in Colorado Springs, Colo., where CBA is headquartered—were cited for the decision, announced in July.

Riskey said the 10-year-old store closed “with grace and dignity by meeting all financial obligations and without filing bankruptcy.” Remaining inventory at the 12,000-square-foot store was liquidated.

The decision was “one of the toughest things emotionally I’ve ever gone through,” Riskey said. “A church was birthed in our store, couples had their first dates in the cafe and we’ve had marriage proposals there, but all this pales in comparison to the people who came to know Jesus within our walls.”

Riskey moved to Colorado in 2007, when he joined CBA as strategic solutions executive. He was named executive director in March, replacing longtime President and CEO Bill Anderson in a new leadership structure at the organization.

Riskey said the outpouring of support that had followed the announcement of the closure made him “more committed than ever to helping stores grow.”

Although it had been a personal sacrifice to take on his duties at CBA while still operating a store and to assume greater association responsibilities with the recent change in the association’s leadership, Riskey said he did not regret the decisions.

“Does closing my store signal there’s no hope for Christian stores?” he asked. “No, there is hope for Christian stores. But stores will be different. They will connect even more with their local churches and communities.”

Riskey and his wife, Barbara, had discussed selling the store before he joined the staff of CBA, but no offers were made so they had decided to continue operations “knowing the transition could be difficult,” he said.

In an open letter to customers thanking them for their past support, Barbara Riskey wrote that the need to close the store was “a decision made for us as clearly as the decision was to start BASIC. We have no more ability to keep it open than we had ability to ignore the call to open it in the first place.”

Through the years, the couple had “experienced great joys, and more challenges than you can probably even fathom, unless you too have elected not to live a ‘safe’ life. It has been rich and full and demanding and rewarding.”

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