BC Bookstore finds new owners

Management of the Boston College Bookstore was sold this summer to the Follett Higher Education Group, manager of more than 800 bookstores nationwide. The Bookstore was previously operated through BC. Follett manages the bookstores at the University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Florida, and 16 of the United States' 28 Jesuit colleges and universities, among other schools.

Patricia Bando, associate vice president for Auxiliary Services, led the search committee that reviewed proposals from contractors and ultimately selected Follett. Other members of the committee included Peter McKenzie, financial vice president and treasurer, and Leo Sullivan, vice president of Human Resources, as well as Alejandro Montenegro, Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) vice president and A&S '09, and Alex Hirs, UGBC chief of staff and A&S '10.

In a memo addressed to the BC community dated July 25, McKenzie said, "The two options [self-operated or contracted management] were evaluated based on a range of criteria including: consistency with University values, care of staff, customer service, infrastructure (management oversight, systems, and facility management), and financial viability."

Follett's Vice president of Media Relations Cliff Ewert said that, with the construction of Stokes Commons, the company will work with BC to build an entirely new bookstore, but that until then they will work to improve the current space in McElroy. "In three years the store is going to move and then we're going to produce a thoroughly new bookstore for the campus," Ewert said.

Ewert said that in the meantime Follett will work to make the current bookstore arrangement more efficient through the installation of upgraded computer systems in the front and back ends of the store, which will aid in more processing books and book orders.

Follett also does not plan to make any immediate changes in bookstore prices, Ewert said. Regarding the availability of used books for student purchase, Ewert said, "We're going to search for as many as we can possibly get." He said that electronic versions of many textbooks will also be offered, which sell at prices 40 percent less than those of print versions.

For textbooks that are readopted by faculty for the following year, Follett will conduct buybacks at a 50 percent rate, Ewert said. "Basically we will pay 50 percent of the purchase price on any book that is readopted and have use for."

Bando said that it was part of the agreement reached with Follett that prices remain competitive, and she said that the committee was conscious of providing the best for students.

Ewert said that the change in management offers an opportunity for bookstore employees to advance their careers with a major corporation. "When we take over a store, we guarantee comparable wages and benefits," Ewert said.

A number of opportunities for the existing BC Bookstore staff were an important concern for the selection committee, Bando said. "That was a stipulation for us as we went out to bid … that any contenders would keep our current staff. Follett was able to keep them on, as well as provide choices in paycheck and benefits," Bando said.

Ewert also said that Follett plans to work with the BC community to build the best bookstore to suit the campus' needs. "Number one," Ewert said, "you won't see the Follett name on the store for public use. It's really the Boston College Bookstore and we work with the University to promote that brand." He said the corporation will be attentive to BC's socially conscious position, and said, "We're fully aware of the Catholic and social values on the campuses that we serve, and I think part of that would involve that products in the bookstore are not products of child or sweatshop labor."

"We wanted to retain our identity as Boston College," Bando said, "and as the Boston College Bookstore."

Follett also plans to reach out to the community beyond the campus. "We work through the alumni associations on campus," Ewert said. Effective communication with faculty members is also a stated Follett priority, and Ewert said, "We try to communicate with them as much as possible," regarding textbook needs and concerns.

Customer service was a primary concern in selecting Follett, Bando said. "We wanted great customer service," she said. "Superb customer service was first for us, as was making a world-class bookstore for Boston College."

Bando said that as BC has experienced tremendous growth in the past decades, the Bookstore has struggled in the wake. A confluence of circumstances led administrators to look for opportunities to build the Bookstore to a stature equal to the University. "What came about was we had a turnover of the management staff this year as well as some employees," Bando said. The Bookstore was also struggling with information technology difficulties, unable to keep up with the rapid changes in the textbook industry.

Additionally, legislation such as the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which was signed into law earlier this year and which seeks to make college more affordable for qualified students, would have posed problems that the Bookstore would not have been able to address quickly under BC management. Bookstore management under Follett, Bando said, will prove much more efficacious in addressing such challenges. "We looked for the skill sets we would need going into the future," She said. "The whole process was for the future … not just filling holes." Bando said that BC could have addressed these issues as it had others in the past without an outside contractor, but, "What we could not afford was the time," she said.

Bando said she will stay involved in an oversight capacity as Follett expands bookstore operations. "The contractor manages the day-to-day operations," she said. "The contractor will hire a new director … we were part of the interview process."