Rewards cards over here.
Price matching over there.
Coupons and signs everywhere.
With one bookstore on campus and two others just off campus — right across the street from each other — the competition is obvious.
“We’ve always been competitive, friendly competitors,” said Fred McIlrath, store manager for TIS College Bookstore in the Village.
Each bookstore — TIS and CBX bookstores in the Village and the Ball State Bookstore in the university’s Art and Journalism Building — drew its share of customers Tuesday.
Students trickled in and out of TIS with booklets of free college coupons. On the second floor, groups of students filled the aisles, many holding blue baskets stacked with textbooks. Purple and gold signs hung from the ceiling advertising TIS’ rewards cards, while several other signs reading “Lowest textbook prices ... guaranteed,” hung from the bookshelves.
CBX, which moved in March from the corner of University and McKinley avenues to its current location at the corner of Calvert and University avenues, was also a bed of activity as lines of students extended from the front registers. Traveling down McKinley Avenue, a truck advertising CBX’s “Grand Opening” caught students’ attention.
Students also frequented the Ball State Bookstore, many holding their syllabuses and browsing the shelves for their class texts.
With three bookstores to choose from, students often check each store for the best prices before making a final purchase, junior Norma Lopez, an early childhood education major who works at the Ball State Bookstore, said.
“We get phone calls every day,” she said. “Most people, I think, shop around first before they make their purchase.”
For many college students, it’s a no-brainer.
“Because we’re all poor — that’s why,” junior Ashley Briggs, who studies microbiology, said. “Books are ridiculously expensive.”
Though students do often shop around for the best prices, many have a favorite store they frequent first.
“I used to buy things from [CBX] since I started college,” sophomore architecture major Jagjeet Chahal said.
For Briggs, TIS is typically the first stop.
“I usually go to TIS first and then to CBX for the books they don’t have used here,” Briggs said. “I just did it when I was a freshman, so I got used to it.”
With CBX’s recent move, however, Briggs shops around more than she did in the past.
“It’s closer — it’s easier,” she said.
The new, more spacious building is a positive add, as well.
“The store’s a lot nicer — the store’s great,” CBX manager Scott Ronnau said. “It’s more open.”
Though CBX is now across the street from TIS, the move has not affected the nature of the bookstores’ competition, Ronnau said.
“It’s pretty much the same as it’s always been,” he said. “We were pretty much a block away before.”
TIS’s business has also not been affected by it’s competitor’s move, McIlrath said.
However, to continue attracting students, each store still strives to provide lower book prices and special perks that keep the competition strong.
One of the biggest perks TIS now offers students is the opportunity to become a rewards card holder for free. The card allows students to accumulate points for prizes with every dollar they spend and allows them to save 3 percent on the textbooks they purchase. When they return textbooks at the end of the semester, students will receive the buyback price plus an additional five percent.
TIS further offers its 110 percent price guarantee, meaning that if a student purchases a book and finds a cheaper one at another store, TIS will give them the difference plus 10 percent.
“We pretty much guarantee you’re not going to find it cheaper anywhere,” McIlrath said.
Ron Sorrell, manager of the Ball State Bookstore, said the store’s goal is to not only provide the best value for each Ball State student but to let them know they are supporting the university in return. Ball State contracts Barnes & Noble to run the bookstore for them, he said.
“Our goal is to provide the lowest-priced book and allow students to feel comfortable they are supporting the university by shopping here,” Sorrell said.
Beginning last fall, the Ball State Bookstore lowered prices across the board on all of its books, he said. The margin on books at the store is five percent below the national average, he said.
The bookstore also offers a 30-day price match guarantee, meaning that if a student purchases a book but finds a cheaper one at another bookstore, the Ball State Bookstore will refund the difference.
The bookstore also offers year-round book reservation, strives to provide more used books for students and strives to increase the amount of money it returns to students every year, Sorrell said. It’s not just about textbooks — the store is expanding all of its services, he said. The number of non-textbook titles, anything from study aids to bestsellers, is reaching 8,000.
Though many students typically rely on the bookstores nearby for their textbook shopping, buying online is still another convenient option, Lopez said. Common sites include Amazon.com and Alf.com.
“Compared to my freshman year, I hear about more students selling books online and going online,” Lopez said. “I hear a lot of people say the books online are cheaper, and when you sell them, you get more back.”
Overall, however, business among the on- and off-campus bookstores has remained steady.
As the bookstores proceed with their friendly competition this year, they keep one common objective in mind, McIlrath said.
“We all three are here to serve you guys,” he said. “That’s our main goal.”
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