Augsburg Fortress—the Minneapolis-based publishing arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—is closing stores and shifting its publishing emphasis as part of significant changes to its operations. The move was based on a year of market analysis and business research, the publisher said.

Augsburg Fortress will close nine bookstores by April 30, 2009, company officials said. A store at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., which is not owned by Augsburg Fortress, will continue to rent space there and Augsburg's Canadian bookstores will remain open.

Additionally, Augsburg Fortress will no longer accept or sell new titles in its consumer-oriented book line, although it will continue to sell stocks on hand. Beth Lewis, president and CEO, said 55 positions will also be eliminated from Augsburg's 242-strong staff.

Unanimously approved by the board of trustees Oct. 24-25, the changes will enable Augsburg Fortress to focus its ministry on its group-use materials for congregations as well as textbooks and monographs for higher education, Lewis said.

"Augsburg Fortress is undergoing important strategic changes to focus our ministry and business—and some are very painful on a personal level as we say goodbye to wonderful colleagues," Lewis said. "We are confident that, while difficult, these changes are necessary and will enable Augsburg Fortress to be a strong and responsive organization for the future."

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