It is with great reluctance that we announce all Adventist Book Centers operated by the Iowa-Missouri Conference are closing permanently. Locations impacted include the main store at the conference office in West Des Moines, as well as stores at Sunnydale Academy and the Minnesota Conference office.
Declining sales (even before COVID-19) and rising operating costs are among the reasons for the closure.
“This is not a decision that was made lightly,” said Dean Coridan, Iowa-Missouri Conference president. “We know church members in both conferences rely on the ABC for books, devotionals, sharing materials, food products and much more. But there just aren’t enough funds available to keep it going.”
The ABC has been serving members of the Iowa-Missouri Conference for 40 years, following the merger of the Iowa and Missouri conferences in 1980, and for many years before that in the Iowa Conference. The Iowa-Missouri Conference had been operating the Minnesota location since March 2014, when Pacific Press stopped managing ABC stores.
“As our culture shifts more and more online, ABCs all over North America are closing,” said Coridan. “We are grateful to Debbie [Quigley, ABC Manager] for her many years of faithful service. She has been an outstanding manager, and she kept these stores going much longer than they would have without her.”
By the time this issue of OUTLOOK is delivered, final clearance sales will have been held at all three locations. But Iowa-Missouri members can still receive ABC products going forward, thanks to an agreement between the Iowa-Missouri Conference and the Kansas-Nebraska ABC. The agreement includes, but is not limited to, the following services: ongoing facilitation of Sabbath school and periodical orders for churches; annual virtual book fairs and ongoing periodical orders for schools; and processing and shipping orders of food, books and other ABC merchandise for members throughout the conference.
For more information visit imsda.org/bookstore.
