Foreword Online

Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers



Jason Smallheer

About Jason Smallheer

Jason Smallheer worked for MBS from 2016 to 2017. His diverse career includes freelance work, broadcast radio and ski resort marketing. He has a passion for sharing ideas, helping businesses grow and professional development. When not expressing himself through writing, he enjoys time with his family and being outside doing anything that can result in scuffed knees and dirty clothes.

Recent articles by Jason Smallheer

UMBC Bookstore; 51 Years of Event Innovation

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 5/15/17 5:30 AM

The University of Maryland Baltimore County Bookstore finds new ways to engage customers. Knowing the industry is changing, and students have more options, UMBC Bookstore Director Bob Somers challenges his team to think outside the box and keep customers coming through the doors.

Read More

MBS Systems Training Spring Forums Hosts 19 Schools for In-depth Learning Session

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 4/27/17 5:30 AM

The MBS Systems Training Spring Forums was held at MBS Textbook Exchange in Columbia, Missouri, April 18-20. More than 30 attendees from 19 schools learned from the MBS Systems experts about Arc, inSite, security enhancements, networked with peers and discovered how to make the most of their MBS System. This year’s forums attracted guests from Rhode Island to California, Oregon, and points in between.

Read More

The Ichabod Shop “Memes” Business; Get Adoptions In

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 4/17/17 5:30 AM

The Ichabod Shop at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, has found a way to make faculty aware of the deadline for course material adoptions, open the door for more conversations and be the “person” departments want to hear from daily.

Read More

Buyback Is Where Student Savings and Success Start

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 4/13/17 5:30 AM

When Googling “the rising cost of education,” more than 63 million articles are available for our reading pleasure. We don’t have the time to comb through articles and whitepapers trying to determine the socio-economic and political root causes. Regardless, the rising costs of education can be attributed to two factors:

  1. The rising cost of tuition
  2. The rising costs of course materials
Read More

'April Showers Bring May Flowers' Customer Appreciation Sale

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 4/3/17 5:30 AM

Host an April Showers Bring May Flowers customer appreciation extravaganza; your opportunity to make sales and motivate the troops as buyback approaches. With students preparing for exams and needing last minute supplies, you have an opportunity to generate a bump in sales.

Read More

Arc: The New Browser-based Retail Management Suite From MBS

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 3/28/17 5:30 AM

The tasks associated with running a bookstore take you away from facing customers. Instead, you sit in front of countless web browser tabs with multiple log-ins telling you what you have on the shelf, where to send POs, managing your ledger and figuring out who to staff and when. Now there’s help.

Read More

Avoiding the Social Media Black Hole

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 3/24/17 5:30 AM

Today you will know how to make at least $800 more than you did yesterday and more than $300 every day thereafter — by doing less. The social media black hole is costing you money each day.

Read More

Colorado State University Bookstore; 2017 Collegiate Retailer of the Year

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 3/20/17 5:30 AM

It was an award 20 years in the making for the Colorado State University Bookstore and the Collegiate Retailer of the Year Award now proudly sits on their mantle.

Read More

Dave Propst – 39 Years, a Legend and His Legacy

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 3/8/17 5:30 AM

On Black Friday of 1977, Dan Schuppan, president of MBS Textbook Exchange, was having an in-person conversation with Dave Propst, a young man who worked at Bill’s Bookstore, the off-campus bookstore at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Propst was interviewing for the role of a wholesale rep for Missouri Book Services (now MBS).

Read More

Bracket Battle in the College Store

Posted by Jason Smallheer on 3/1/17 5:30 AM

Prepare yourself for the March Bracket Battle chaos! This month people will be asking you which college basketball team is going to go all the way and let’s face it, we have no idea which team is better and can only name a handful of players. But your Bracket Battle can be about more than basketball, and you’re going to take the annual bracket bonanza to a new level.

Read More

Subscribe for updates

Share your experience

Contact our editorial team to set up an interview or to contribute a guest post.

Most popular posts