Advocacy Articles

Connect 2 One Advocates for You!

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education discussed leasing the college store as an option for a campus. The following response, written by Mark Palmore, our Institutional Store Advocate, was submitted and will appear in the In Box in a forthcoming issue of The Chronicle.

There's More to Leasing Your Campus Bookstore Than Meets the Eye

The Feb. 4 issue of your publication featured an interesting article on the campus bookstore by John Pulley entitled, "Whose Bookstore Is It, Anyway?" While the article addressed many important aspects of what is a complex issue, from the viewpoint of an institutional bookstore manager, several important points were omitted.

• When a store goes lease, students lose. Not only does the student pay higher prices when a store goes lease (according to a survey of 50 stores conducted by Connect2One last fall, leased stores charge as much as 26 percent more for supplies than independent stores), students lose a supporter and advocate for their concerns and activities. The campus bookstore is an integral part of campus life, often contributing funding and support to campus groups. Leased bookstores are under no obligation to continue this type of support. Their mission is to satisfy corporate objectives, not campus objectives.


• Why outsource a profit center? The institutional bookstore is a profit center and, as such, often contributes substantial revenue to the campus and its programs. While contract management may seem to offer fewer hassles for the same or more revenue, consider that a lease agent will raise prices and cut costs. If you do this yourself, is the lease operation really a better deal? If the lease agent doesn't deliver as promised and drives students away because of higher prices, when the contract expires, what are your options?


• It's difficult to take back your bookstore after you've gone lease. A lease operation will typically pay a token sum for your bookstore's equipment before they sell it off. However, at the end of the lease, if you aren't happy with the contract operator and would like to take back your bookstore, it can require as much as $1 million or more in capital investment to get back in business.


• The growing market for online sales offers an opportunity to increase profitability. Why let an outsider reap these benefits? Faced with increased competition from a bevy of online competitors, outsourcing your bookstore may seem the easiest way to get in the game. But why shouldn't the campus benefit from this opportunity for increased profitability? Resources exist within the campus marketplace to build and maximize the profitability of your own bookstore's Web site.


• You have control over an institutional bookstore. Why relinquish control over a profit center and an integral part of your campus? As an institutional bookstore, you set the prices, the hours, and have control over policy as well as inventory. Once leased, the bookstore and its operation are largely out of your hands.

I appreciate the opportunity to share another point of view on the subject of contract management. Mr. Pulley is to be congratulated for tackling this complicated and important campus issue, because, there's more to leasing your campus bookstore than meets the eye.