Carleton University will be taking over operations of its bookstore on May 1 from Follett Higher Education, the Illinois-based company that has run the store since 1998.
The bookstore will be rebranded as the “Campus Store.”
Faculty were notified of the change on March 17 in an email from Campus Services regarding textbook orders for the spring and summer terms.
“This marks an exciting new chapter as we continue to enhance the student experience and provide exceptional service,” the email said.
Currently, the bookstore sells official Carleton merchandise as well as physical and digital textbooks.
“We had great partnership [with Follett] but over the years, we found that our values were sort of drifting away from one another and the university really just thought that we could do a better job at managing it ourselves,” said Kathleen Kelly, Carleton’s Campus Services assistant director of operations and planning.
Carleton will not keep Follett employees who worked in the store previously, Kelly said. This will result in the loss of five student jobs and two full-time jobs. Two workers already employed by Carleton will keep their jobs.
Bookstore employees said they were instructed by Follett not to comment on the situation.
With Carleton’s contract with Follett expiring on April 30, the university began considering taking over operations about a year ago, Kelly said. However, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, combined with Follett being an American company, simplified the university’s choice.
“It certainly makes the decision a little bit easier and there’s not many regrets there, that’s for sure,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the store will be an ancillary operation, meaning it will not receive any funding from the university. Any expenses are expected to be covered by the store’s revenue.
“The plan is that we will, at the very least, break even and maybe, hopefully, eventually, be able to contribute back to the university to support other programs,” she said.
By eliminating Follett as the intermediary, Kelly said the Campus Store will offer lower prices and improve the sense of community. She said the university hopes to transform the store into a place for students to shop and socialize.
“We’d like to have some community events in the store for students as well, like book clubs and things like that, have the therapy dogs in throughout the day, just sort of like a fun place where people can come not just to shop, but to come and hang out.”
The university also hopes to build better relationships with faculty in hopes of increasing the number of textbook adoptions, Kelly said. Through the store’s textbook adoption program, faculty can order their course textbooks to be in stock for students at the beginning of the term. To better serve student needs, the store will also try to adopt more digital resources and course materials.
There will also be changes to merchandise.
Current products in the store are all owned by Follett. Other than select products that may stay past May 1 depending on negotiations with the university, the majority will be liquidated before Carleton takes over.
“In the past, there’s been a lot of departments that have been going off buying their own merchandise, branded merchandise, and so we want to bring that all back into one area so that we can have some purchasing power.”
Renovations over the summer will result in a smaller store to develop a new look.
“It’s going to be a more contemporary-looking space, warm, with just a nicer shopping experience for students,” Kelly said.
The university plans to add more decoration to the store, including plants to divide different sections. It is also looking into raising the ceilings.
“We will continue to strive for an exceptional experience for all customers,” Steven Reid, the university’s media relations officer said in a March 18 email statement to the Charlatan.
Reid added that more information about the new campus store will be communicated to the entire student body in the coming months.
“When we reopen in September, we’re going to have a lot of new stock and a lot of exciting things, and we’re looking forward to showing that off to students,” Kelly said.
Featured image by Marissa Meilleur.
