Advocacy Articles

Why? Because there is money in College Bookstores!

It will come as no surprise to any of you that college administrators are concerned for the future of their campus bookstore. In fact, some of them have been led to believe that the store may not exist in its present form in the not so distant future.

Last year it was Varsity, BigWords and the other on-line college bookstores proclaiming victory (which didn't happen), and now it appears that the gloom and doom talk is revolving around the fears that e-books will replace the "core product" of the college book store — textbooks! Well, if that was the case why are the contract management companies continuing to aggressively lease campus bookstores?

Follett, Barnes & Noble, and Wallace's are strongly seeking to lease more college stores; even those that are current customers of there wholesale divisions. Why? Because there is money in college bookstores! The contract management companies are able to pay your school a guaranteed amount of money and still make a healthy profit for themselves. I contend that your store can make a better profit for your institution than the contract management companies. Does your key campus administration know the total value of your store? Are you using your financials to your benefit? Are you telling the administration all of the intangibles your store provides to the university? If you are great, keep it up. If not, we can help, here's how.

On an annual or semi-annual basis sit down with the key administrators and tell them all that your store brings to your campus. Let them know that if your store is leased not only will they lose revenue, but also all of those "other" services your store provides for little or no cost to the institution, student groups, and the community will go away. Your campus administration will lose control of the store. They will no longer be able to decide the balance between customer service and revenue, but any and all complaints from faculty, students, or parents will be directed at the campus administrator, not corporate headquarters of the contract Management Company. In other words, the school loses control but retains all the headaches. Why not tell your administration why keeping the campus store institutional/self-op is the best course of action?

Connect2One can help you develop a winning presentation to your campus administration. We have the resources to assist you prove why the campus store should stay institutional/self-op. Let us be of assistance to you and your store. If interested in learning more about the Institutional Store Advocacy Program, contact Mark Palmore at (800) 563-9034 or e-mail at mpalmore@connect2one.com.