Advocacy Articles

Now is the Time toBe Prepared!!
By Mark Palmore, Institutional Store Advocate and Executive Director

Over the past few months we have seen major independent bookstores become contract managed.  Rest assured that was not the choice of the people working in those stores.  These very public developments have led one group of stores to band together to fight this practice.  Connect2One is proud to be working with those individuals to help make a difference in preserving the independent bookstore.

The new development is really old news hitting closer to home.  Simply put there is no store that is immune to being outsourced, no matter how great the store is performing.  The two major lease companies are aggressively working on campus administrators to outsource the best stores in the business.  They are succeeding because so far all of the efforts that Connect2One and other groups have used against them have been like firing a BB gun at a Tank.  We are hitting them, and sometimes even persuading administrators to keep their stores independent.  However, they are very persistent and persuasive and for the most part they are succeeding in areas where administrators would have never considered outsourcing in the past.  What does this all mean?  Be Prepared…NOW!!!   Don’t wait any longer, prepare a plan and document the value of your store to your administration and its value as an independent store before it is too late.

You must be as aggressive, if not more so, in proving the value of your store as the leasing company.  Hire a consultant to review your store operations, listen to their advice and make the changes they recommend.  Connect2One can help recommend some great independent consultants.  If a consultant is not in your budget, drive around to other local stores, including the lease stores and take pictures, check prices, get ideas to help you make your store better.    

No store is safe.  Constantly challenge yourself and your store staff to be thinking how can we improve and better meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff while exceeding the goals set by our administration.  Now is the Time to…Be Prepared!!! Are you Ready!