Advocacy Articles

Your administrator tells you it is time for a store review. What an opportunity!
By Mark Palmore, Institutional Store Advocate

A couple of weeks ago, Dick Welsh and I ventured to the Big Apple to attend the annual NACUBO meeting. As always, administrator meetings are a great learning experience and a wonderful opportunity to meet with key campus finance and business officers to discuss the tremendous value of the institutional/self-op store model. Though we were the only "college bookstore buying group" in attendance, our friends from NACS attended and conducted their annual survey. As usual, both Follett and Barnes & Noble were in attendance, wining, dining and schmoozing with as many of the NACUBO members as possible.

The tone of the meeting was very different from last year before the demise of Wallace's. Based on numerous discussions with administrators, one thing seems certain: the operations review process is becoming more analytical and precise. In my opinion, that is good news for institutional college stores. I feel strongly that the review process is an opportunity for the institutional store to prove to the administration that they are the best solution for their campus.

In its annual survey at NACUBO, NACS learned that more administrators than last year plan to review their bookstores in the next couple of years. 42% (up from 36% in 2000) of the administrators at both schools with institutional and lease stores plan to evaluate their store ownership within the next couple of years. The survey also showed that the value of financial performance continues to be the most important factor regarding store ownership evaluations, increasing from 68% in 2000 to 73% in 2001.

So what can you do to insure that you are prepared to meet the challenges of the store review process? Be Prepared, Be Proactive and Be Positive! Connect2One can help; all you have to do is ask. To contact me, call (800) 563-9034 or e-mail me. Remember, when opportunity knocks, take advantage of it and show 'em what you and your staff can do for your campus!