CEO DATELINE - Trade group seeks to save independent college bookstores
CEO DATELINE - Trade group seeks to save independent college bookstores
- March 6, 2017 |
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Walt Williams
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An association representing college bookstores has unveiled a new initiative aimed at retaining independent campus stores and transitioning leased stores back to independent businesses, Publishers Weekly reported.
The National Association of College Stores is transitioning its indiCo subsidiary from a consulting service to an independent campus store collaborative. The group hopes the new business model will help stem a tide of campus store closures, with 92 independent stores closing last year alone.
"We shouldn't hand over the industry to Follett and Barnes & Noble [Education] without competing," NACS CEO Robert Walton said. "We're going to start fighting back."
The closures are the result of online competition and a wave of consolidation in the industry, with companies such as Follett buying up and managing many campus bookstores throughout the country.
The changes in the industry have hit the Oberlin, Ohio-based NACS. The group lost $30 million last year after Follett pulled out of the association's NACSCORP subsidiary, a wholesale distributor of books and merchandise. NACS eliminated 22 full-time positions and 13 part-time positions as a result of the loss. The association reported 214 staff in its 2016 tax filings.
In launching the new indiCo, the association has formed several partnerships with key technology providers, including Amazon. The group is also dedicating 25 staffers to the subsidiary. http://bit.ly/2mXhAVV
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