Thomas Nelson Publishers has decided to end its participation at CBA Advance and the biggest Christian publishing company instead will host a three-day “Open House” for its top Christian retail accounts next spring, company officials said.

With the announcement this week, Thomas Nelson becomes the first major publisher to forgo the booksellers' trade association's winter event, which has seen dwindling retailer attendance in recent years.

“We refuse to accept the notion that decline in this (retailer) channel is inevitable,” Nelson's President and CEO Michael Hyatt said. “We are committed to helping reverse the trend. We believe that this event is a step in the right direction.”

CBA President Bill Anderson called the Open House event a “creative idea” that would “look good to Thomas Nelson, but time will tell whether this is a good idea for Christian retail and will help the channel grow.”

“If the Nelson model is applied to the hundreds of supplier accounts in a typical Christian store, retailers would be out of their store most of the year just visiting their suppliers,” Anderson told Christian Retailing. “We think retailers will quickly see this as a very inefficient way of doing business. … This feels like further splintering of the channel, and in the end-that doesn't serve retailers well at all.”

Nelson's decision to end its participation at CBA Advance does not come as a total surprise. Last year, the publisher made an early announcement that its only presence at CBA Advance 2007 would be in the form of a hospitality booth, not an exhibitor, but by November had returned to normal exhibitor status.

The Open House program calls for Nelson to invite two employees from each selected bookstore and pay their expenses to attend the weekend conference in Nashville. The company has not determined exact dates for the event.

Read the full report on Thomas Nelson's Open House in the March 19 issue of Christian Retailing.

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