The Episcopal Booksellers Association (EBA) is to move its Annual Meeting to Munce Group’s Christian Product Expo (CPE) from its long-term home at the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit (RBTE).

EBA’s board of directors decided to move the meeting to the Munce event—to be held Sept. 16-18, in Murfreesboro, Tenn.—to lower the cost of attendance, provide access to specialized training and offer buyers access to a broader variety of books and gifts. The Episcopalians have met at the venue of the majority Roman Catholic trade show since EBA’s inception in 1997.

Acknowledging that CPE is primarily targeted a more conservative Protestant market than that served by EBA affiliates, the EBA board consulted with supporting vendor members, who had shown “enthusiastic support” for the move. 

Church Publishing, now marketed through Abingdon Press (The United Methodist Publishing House), Westminster John Knox/Presbyterian Publishing Co. and Oxford University Press have said they will follow EBA buyers to CPE. Other vendors already display at the Munce show, including Wm B. Eerdmans and Spring Arbor Distributors.

EBA will work with the Munce Group to incorporate into the show elements deemed essential to Episcopal buyers, including an on-site Episcopal worship service.