Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

As we wind down the year, we wanted to celebrate the content that keeps our subscribers coming back for more. Here are the top 10 store stories we published from 2015, in case you missed them or just want to check them out again!

Why start the year off with a to-do list that often never gets done?

Let’s be honest. More often than not, resolutions fall apart before the end of the year. We make every effort to get to the gym, eat better or travel more, but by the end of the year, we’re back to where we started.

Reaching out to new and returning students on a regular basis is vital to the success of any college store. After all, if your students aren’t fully aware of all you have to offer or the important role you play as part of the campus community, they may choose to shop elsewhere. Schmoozefest, a yearly event sponsored by the University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, welcomes students back to campus with free food and gift bags — and The Phoenix Bookstore makes sure they are involved in the festivities.

In the past, it was totally possible to find out exactly what you wanted to learn from your students over Twitter — if they took the time to write out an answer, and if you tracked replies, followed hashtag or got your followers to favorite or retweet corresponding tweets.

The University of Central Missouri built a brand new bookstore in the middle of campus that opened up this past August. In the video below, UCM Store Director Charlie Rutt walks us through the new building and talks about how the changes have boosted his business. Check it out!

“Want the usual today?” she asks, after greeting you by name.

At your nod, she starts making your vanilla soy latte exactly the way you like it, without needing any additional information. Which makes sense, since you’ve stopped in for the same drink a few times a week for the last year.

At the end of September, Pope Francis made a historic visit to Philadelphia. This coincided with the final festivities for the weeklong World Meeting of Families, the world’s largest gathering of Catholic families. Because it had been years since the last papal visit, Neumann University Bookstore Director Natalie VanWyk knew it would be important to acknowledge the event, but also realized that she could use it to increase traffic to the bookstore.

Last weekend, the Kansas City Royals made history by beating the New York Mets in Game 5 to score their second World Series win in four appearances. First and foremost, we wish the team a big congrats from down Interstate 70!

From 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., most store workers are hopefully in bed fast asleep. The folks at SDSU Bookstore were keeping the action going late October 26, hosting more than 80 gamers for a Halo 5 launch party and raffle.

If you haven’t heard of it before, Periscope is a new app that uses live streaming video to reach followers anytime, anyplace. All a Periscope user has to do is pull out his or her phone, open the app, and start filming. Their followers will get a notification on their phone saying that User X has just gone live, thereby encouraging them to tune in and see what’s happening.