Abbey Press has shut down its consumer catalog division and its companion Web site, laying off 34 staff, though the trade marketing division continues operations. The catalog division has been in business since the early 1960s and last year mailed 6.5 million catalogs.

The division experienced declining sales for five years before closing, Saint Meinrad Archabbey Business Manager John Wilson said. "We've tried a variety of solutions to keep the catalog business going because we wanted to give it every chance to succeed," he said, adding that the decision to discontinue the division was made after an exhaustive process.

Abbey Press attributed dwindling sales to several factors, including a change in customer habits from catalog to online ordering and increased competition in the marketplace.

Owned and operated by Saint Meinrad Archabbey, a 150-year-old Benedictine monastic community in southern Indiana, Abbey Press has four other divisions-printing, One Caring Place Publications, trade marketing and an on-campus gift shop-which now employ 194 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers.

Click here for information on the wholesale division for retail customers.