Commentary

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In Feb. 10, the Oregon Daily Emerald ran a front-page story entitled "Small bookstores feeling the squeeze." The article was a jumbled mess concerning large franchises, online booksellers, textbooks and retail books, not necessarily in any particular order.

This story came out four days after the Oregon Commentator published an article entitled "www.beat-the-bookstore.com" that compared the cost of textbooks at the bookstore to the cost online.

Was this a case of Bookstore damage control or just coincidental timing? Either way, it shows that the Bookstore is starting to feel the pinch of online competition, while the unfocused Emerald article demonstrates the lack of a solid point.

The article likens the University Bookstore to the independently owned Mother Kali's Books, describing them as "small, hometown bookstores."

At annual sales of around $16 million, the Bookstore is far from being on the same plateau as Mother Kali's, nor is it a "small" business. While both stores carry textbooks, Mother Kali's features a wide array of retail books that are not easily found in large chains. The bookstore does not.

A walk through the Bookstore's retail book selection shows the same homogeneous selections you would find at a Barnes & Noble or Borders. The Emerald article would have done better to stick to textbook sales rather than branch out and include retail books in the story. The topic of small, independent bookstores feeling the pinch from large chains is a story topic in and of itself and does not reflect the status of the textbook market.

When asked about the Emerald article, Bookstore General Manager Jim Williams said that he was out of town when the article was published. In discussing buying books online versus buying at the bookstore, he cited a study conducted by the campus bookstore at Arizona State University. According to Williams, the study found that none of the online bookstores could beat the prices of a typical university bookstore. When presented with the Commentator's findings, William stated that it was "contrary to the information we have." According to Williams, the University of Oregon Bookstore is only one of 10 to 15 campus bookstores in the country to offer any sort of discount on textbooks to students. "If there was no bookstore, there would be chaos on campus," said Williams.

The Emerald article goes on to discuss the company Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, Inc. and its large share of the textbook market. How this relates to local bookstores is unclear, considering the Barnes & Noble textbook division holds no share of the textbook market here at the University of Oregon. The textbook division is involved solely in distribution to college bookstores and does not sell directly to students.

The Emerald cites Bookstore Coursebook Manager Chris Standish saying that most students like buying their books at the Bookstore because they "don't have to worry about shipping costs or waiting for weeks for their textbooks." As stated in the Commentator article, shipping is often free and books usually arrive in one to five days, depending on the site (See Oregon Commentator Vol. VII, Issue VI for more details.)

In defense of the Emerald's journalistic integrity and non-biased approach, they were able to get an interview with John Bates, the co-founder of BigWords.com (this company that placed number two in the Commentator's review). Bates discusses how online companies are not making monopolies, but rather breaking them. However, the interview does not show up until close to the end of the article.

It is also interesting to note that the Emerald has run ads for both VarsityBooks.com and BigWords.com since the beginning of fall 1999.

The Bookstore stands to lose a fairly large chunk of revenue in the college textbook market, but don't expect it to go out of business as a result. While textbooks make up 39 percent of the Bookstore's revenue, the business has diversified into UO apparel, retail books, art supplies, computers, and many other items.

If the Bookstore wants to remain competitive, it will have to lower the prices of college textbooks. A PR boost from the Emerald will not change this fact.

For further information see:

Oregon Daily Emerald: "Small bookstores feeling the squeeze"

OC: "www.beat-the-bookstore.com"

Ben Nahorney, a senior majoring in Journalism, is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator