Bookstore plans to double $1 million revenue next year

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Bookstore plans to double $1 million revenue next year
 Photo: Junior Gretchen Wellemeyer manages the cash register in Hillsdale College’s bookstore. The shop has an annual revenue of $1 million and plans to double that next year. (Jordyn Pair/Collegian)

Photo: Junior Gretchen Wellemeyer manages the cash register in Hillsdale College’s bookstore. The shop has an annual revenue of $1 million and plans to double that next year. (Jordyn Pair/Collegian)

Hillsdale College’s bookstore is jumping from a $1-million business to a $2-million business. At least, that’s what Chief Administrative Officer Richard Péwé said he is planning.

The bookstore reported about $1 million in sales for several years now. It made $140,000 last academic year, profits that go into the general fund, which helps keep tuition down and assists with scholarships and expenses. This year, however, the bookstore is partnering with the marketing department to double its sales by advertising Hillsdale gear to Imprimis readers and others on the college’s mailing list.

“There’s a market that I would love to touch, but we don’t have the capability to fulfill orders for a mass audience like that,” Bookstore Director Cindy Hoard said. “We don’t have the space to fulfill the merchandise.”

Hoard and the marketing department will work with a company who has the capacity to stock and ship bigger orders. Hoard will order the gear, and the company will do the rest — stock, package, label, and ship.

As textbook sales have consistently decreased over the past five years, clothing and imprinted item sales have grown. Online sales have increased by 20 percent, Péwé said.

“What’s great about the bookstore is they cover their costs, and anything they make goes into the operating budget,” Péwé said. “It helps students indirectly in that it’s a form of income.”

The bookstore’s profits is about $140,000 annually.

“What I like about the bookstore is all the money goes back to the school,” said junior Taylor Hannel, bookstore employee. “Books are sometimes more expensive here, but it’s not like we can really help that.”  

Hoard said she tries to keep book prices low. She said she believes they are cheaper than Amazon.com Inc. and, if sold back, cheaper than rentals.

“Our whole goal is to make life so much easier, and we want students to have the tools,” Hoard said. “They’re like our children. We’re not going to hurt them, and we’re not setting out to make a profit off of them. We keep our prices as cheap as we can.”

Despite making up one third of overall sales, book sales are less than one third of the store’s profit since the margin is so thin, Hoard said.

She added that the bookstore works to buy back as many books as possible in order to sell used books to more students. Typically, the bookstore buys back books for half the price of the original book, she said.

Hoard said she was surprised to hear about the formal announcement of a plan to double sales.

“We’ve spoken about it for the past couple years, but I didn’t know he was closer than I thought,” Hoard said. “I was like, ‘Here we go, I’m ready.’”