Skystore Hopes to Compete Under New Management
By: Taylor Hutchison Indy Staff Writer
Since mid-summer, the Skystore, located in the Student Union, has been under new operation and management.
The new company, Textbook Brokers, lowers prices to go up against competitors like Amazon and Chegg, said Kristian Luce, the new manager. Students may rent textbooks for less, and are now more likely to shop at the Skystore, which has received over 1,700 online orders since Textbook Brokers took over this summer.
“We are now in direct competition with Amazon,” Jimmi Ogden, the assistant manager, said. “I think that makes it a lot more affordable for students.”
Jill Coon, Director of the Student Union, works in communication between the Skystore and the Student Union, she said.
She said that after the contract with Follett ended, she did what is called “going out to bid,” or making the Skystore available for bidding.
Coon provided the Request for Proposal that invites companies to submit a Proposal for Management and Operation of the Skystore.
The RPF outlines what was needed, like a company to reduce prices of textbooks for students.
The requests varied from improved customer service satisfaction to expanding product selection, but affordability was most important, Coons said.
“It was disheartening for our students to have to be ordering books and having them shipped because we couldn’t provide what they needed,” she said.
Ultimately, it was a committee made up of Coon, a faculty member and former Associated Students of Fort Lewis College President Chance Sallaway that decided to accept Textbook Brokers as the new company, she said.
The contract with Textbook Brokers is five years long, she said.
Coon said that the reaction from students was positive, citing one student who bought their textbooks from the Skystore for the first time as a senior.
Since the introduction of Textbook Brokers, a few changes have been made to the Skystore, like the policy on price matching, for example. In the past, students were given an in-store gift card, but now the difference is removed at the cash register, or students are refunded the difference to the method of payment used, Ogden said.
However, there is a catch. Textbook Brokers is unable to accept a gift card given to a student by Follett, Ogden said.
Luce declined to comment on any further details regarding price matching.
Luce has faced several challenges since becoming the new manager, he said. When Follett left mid-summer, they took all of their products with then. Since then, he has worked to fill the Skystore with textbooks and gear in time for the fall semester.
Follett left no information behind, so Luce compiled a new list of the textbooks students needed.
He was also unable to stock the Skystore with used textbooks, so the store has been selling and renting new textbooks for the price of used ones, he said.
In addition to textbooks, the Skystore continues to offer a variety of gear from T-shirts to mugs.
Under Textbook Brokers, it is easier for employees to tailor the items in the Skystore to what students want, Ogden said. Before, it was a challenge to do so because employees had to go through many steps to get approval.
She attributes this change to Textbook Brokers being more independent than Follett.