Barnes and Noble has taken a page from Sodexo and set up shop at SFCC.
In September, CCS began talks with Barnes and Noble in the hopes of finding better textbook deals for students. On Dec. 15, the management service contract was signed and Barnes and Noble took over.
“It’s really difficult for a single bookstore to be able to compete with the bigger sellers like Barnes and Noble or even amazon,”
-Lisa Hjaltalin is the Chief Financial Officers for CCS
Lisa Hjaltalin is the Chief Financial Officers for CCS and the one who has been working on the contract with Barnes and Noble.
“It’s really difficult for a single bookstore to be able to compete with the bigger sellers like Barnes and Noble or even amazon,” Hjaltalin said. “And we want to be able to give our students the best possible opportunity to get the least expensive textbook option they can find.”
The switchover occurred over winter break and students are already seeing changes.
“We can get books by ourselves, again,” said Krysta Knowlton, an SFCC student. “I hated when they got our books. All of the signs look like Barnes and Noble, too. The store looks a lot more open.”
The store will be going through further renovations this summer. According to Hjaltalin, Barnes and Noble will be spending $150 thousand to renovate the stores at SFCC and SCC.
Other changes students will notice are price differences and a larger variety of book formats.
“They actually have prices for new, used, and renting,” Knowlton said. “So I can decide if I want to buy or not.”
There will be more online textbooks available for students as well, so students can look for new technology, such as Nook e-readers, to soon be at the college store.
“I think you’ll see more electronics like the Nooks and tablets that we just weren’t able to offer before,” said Hjaltalin.
Teachers have an open house at the end of January so they can get help learning the new book ordering system. This will give teachers the opportunity to view the prices for all of these formats beforehand.
“When teachers make a textbook selection then they will know exactly what a student is going to pay for that book,” Hjaltalin said. “This will give them more resources so that they can make better choices for the students, because no faculty wants to have students pay more than they need to for something.”
However, with the new items come new policies. The rental policy is one of many changes that students will see.
According to the school store’s website, students who return their books late will face more charges.
“Replacement Cost is 75% of the selling price of your book at the time of purchase. Processing Fee is 7.5% of the selling price at the time of purchase. These fees are in addition to the rental fee.”
The buyback policy has also changed.
“Barnes and Noble has a much better buy back program,” Hjaltalin said. “If that book is going to be used again next quarter, they will buy it back. There is not a fee involved for students to do it. They don’t have a buyback period so students can come back at any time and do that.”
CCS is not the first of schools seeing this switch to Barnes and Noble. WSU, Whitworth and many schools on the west side of the state have also contracted the chain to sell their books.
Max Shuman, a former student at Seattle Central, was a member of the student government while his school went through the change.
“Seems to me like a better deal for the school and ultimately students with the set up,” Shuman said. “For one, it puts the burden of success on Barnes and Noble. Also, some students need the bookstore. Certain scholarships provide books, but only at the bookstore.”
CCS is in a five-year revenue sharing agreement with Barnes and Noble.
“We get 7% of all of the gross sales,” said Hjaltalin. “That money goes back to the colleges and then back to students.”
Barnes and Noble is also giving the CCS Foundation an annual donation of $10 thousand.
“That money will go to scholarships for students,” Hjaltalin said. “That is usually what they offer to show that they are good citizens.”
“There are other things that the foundation can do that CCS doesn’t have the ability to do,” she said. “That’s why the money is going to the foundation. They have the ability to help students out with individual things that they might need, maybe a bus pass or a payment to a baby sitter or maybe a rent payment they can’t make.”
Students can expect to see many changes over the next few quarters, but the bookstore will still belong to the school.
“It’s still our building and it’s still our employees so we maintain local control at everything that happens at these locations,” Hjaltalin said. “We’ve brought in their technology, their knowledge of the textbook industry and their management of the textbook buying process and so that’s what they’re really doing for us.”