Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

It's March and you know what that means: All over the country, campuses are beginning to empty as students make a beeline for their spring break destinations. No matter where they travel, you can bet that they’ll have their phones in hand — so a great way to keep interaction up is by running some kind of giveaway (like a photo contest) through your store’s social media accounts. This is the third year that the Old Post Bookstore has invited their customers to share spring break pictures featuring Vincennes University gear for a chance to win gift cards to the store.

Pipes burst. Air ducts fall. The power goes out. Do you have a plan for what you and your employees will do when one of these things happen? What about in the case of a large snowfall, bad storm or flood? Here are a few tips to help you make it through when things go wrong:

Rental has shaken up the textbook industry over the last five years, and the staying power of this trend indicates that it isn't going to lose traction any time soon. If your store doesn’t currently offer rentals, now is the time to seriously consider it.

It’s pretty clear: love is definitely in the air at college stores all over the country. With less than a week to go before Valentine’s Day, suggestions for romantic gifts, requests for “meet cute” anecdotes and holiday sales are filling up our newsfeed on a regular basis. This year it seems like more stores than ever are actively using Facebook to promote their efforts — like the WSU Bookstore, with their “14 Days of Valentines Giveaway.”

Spring may not have sprung yet, but we promise, it is right around the corner. To get you ready for this season of new beginnings, we’ve designed a two-part plan to help you and your students give back to your community and de-clutter a bit at the same time! Encourage students to share their unwanted items to help those in need or give your customers a chance to put a new spin on something old — we’ll lay it all out for you, and you choose the event that best fits your store.

Long lines. Frantic Students. Rush can be a hectic time for everyone, on both sides of the bookstore counter. For many students, the combination of a new semester beginning, finding all of the right books and then having to buy them makes it an especially stressful time. This year, the staff at the UVU Bookstore found a clever way to allay some of that stress for their customers, and gave one lucky student a big surprise.

It’s a tradition that goes back nearly two decades: every year, the bookstore staff of Memorial University at Newfoundland work together to raise money for their community. Initially, the donation resulted from the sale of their handmade crafts, with the recipients being a single-parent family in need.

Did you know that one of the best ways to keep a New Year’s resolution is to make it public? It’s true! Declaring your intention in front of an audience makes you feel accountable, so this year, encourage students to share their resolutions as they purchase their textbooks during Rush. We’ve devised an easy-to-execute giveaway and ways to let your customers know how your store can help them achieve their goals in 2015!

Halloween is serious business at both locations of the University of Alaska-Anchorage Bookstore! Not only is it the staff’s favorite time of year, it’s also an excellent excuse to plan fun events, play dress up and get rid of some “dead” merchandise. While many of us only get one day for a treat-eating, costume-wearing celebration of the spookiest holiday of the year, at these stores, Halloween is a week-long event that includes pumpkin carving, giveaways, a special sale and pint-sized trick-or-treating.

October 9 was the fourth annual National Student Day — did your store participate? Here's a look into what some other college stores cooked up, in the words of the bookstore staff members who helped make it happen: