February 2, 1995: Vol26n15: Report asks bookstore expansion

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
After nearly a year of study, the 17-member University Bookstore Task
Force has released its findings. Relocating the South Campus store
from its Main Street location back onto campus, closing the Ellicott
Complex store and expanding the square footage of the North Campus
store were among the task force's top recommendations.
	Although book prices were a major concern of the task force,
it concluded that UB's textbook prices actually were in line with
those at other colleges and universities. However, the task force felt
that was not well communicated to the entire campus community. They
recommended the establishment of a forum for an ongoing dialogue
between bookstore officials, faculty, staff and students to seek
creative ways of keeping costs down.
	Bookstore General Manager Gregory Neumann, who spoke to
members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at a meeting
Jan. 25, said he was encouraged by the report, would do whatever he
could to improve services, and would urge his superiors at Follett
College Stores, Inc. to do the same. Follett College Stores, a
division of the Elmhurst, Ill.-based Follett Corporation, is a
privately held company that owns and operates more than 400 university
bookstores nationwide.
	The task force conducted a survey of more than 800 bookstore
users and examined the operations of other regional university
bookstores, both by phone and through on-site visits in drawing their
conclusions, according to the task force's published final report.
	One bone of contention the task force had with Follett was
over a contractual obligation the company made, in 1982, to provide UB
with a university bookstore operation "comparable to the finest
bookstore operation in the United States." According to the task force
report, the 20,000-square-foot bookstore may no longer be adequate to
meet this obligation, particularly since more and more floor space is
occupied by non-book merchandise.
	Follett, which owns the building and leases the location from
the UB Foundation, would bear financial responsibility for any
remodeling or expansion of the facility, according to Robert Palmer,
UB vice president for student affairs and task force chair. However,
according to Palmer, "Follett is flexible on the issue of expansion."
Neumann agreed, saying that his store is "on the table for a complete
remodel this summer, although we were slated for that last summer,
too." Neumann told FSEC members that, "if I have the support of this
group, it (expansion) could get done."
	The state and location of the University Medical Bookstore
across Main Street from the South Campus was also discussed at length
by the task force. The task force recommended making suitable
on-campus space for the bookstore a high priority item for the South
Campus Master Plan.
	Palmer indicated that, although there were no plans currently
to move the bookstore onto the South Campus, doing so would not be
difficult, since considerable space has become available.
	High book prices was the number one complaint of bookstore
users surveyed by the task force. Their report stated, "Most UB
students and faculty believe that new and used textbooks are
overpriced and yield a huge profit...when, in fact, all peer
institutions surveyed followed the same standard industry pricing
policy."
	While price gouging is a common complaint, particularly among
students who spend hundreds of dollars a semester on texts, it may not
be a legitimate complaint, or at least not at the bookstore level,
says one area bookstore owner.	"The rule-of-thumb in retail generally
is that markup is 100 percent of cost," said Jonathan Welch, manager
and co-owner of the Talking Leaves Bookstore, across the street from
the South Campus. "The norm for trade books is 40 to 45 percent, but
for textbooks, it is only 20 percent. Basically, you can't make money
selling textbooks."
	The "memorandum of understanding" which governs the
contractual relationship between the university and Follett College
Stores, Inc. calls for just that: roughly a 20 percent markup on
textbooks.
	Welch carries a limited number of textbooks, largely because
certain professors prefer to order through him, he says, but he notes
that he can't afford to do too much with textbooks. "It brings some
students into the store, but I don't want to be a 'textbook' store."
To some extent, "blame" lies in the fact that book costs have
increased greatly. "In the 20 years I've been in the business, book
costs have probably more than quadrupled," he said. 
	Follett took over responsibilities for providing university
bookstore services in 1982. Prior to that, the university had operated
the bookstore itself. Follett's lease for the bookstore runs until the
year 2020.
	Although the memorandum between Follett and UB also prevents
the university or UB Foundation from operating a competing bookstore
on or near the campus, the task force viewed relations between Follett
and the school as generally positive. In the report's conclusion, it
characterized Follett as "a student-oriented corporation that is truly
cognizant of the value of student input in the decision-making process
relative to its product and delivery of services."