Alternatives Abound for Textbook Buyers

Those in search of lower textbook prices have a seemingly endless amount of choices when it comes to retailers, many of which are on the Internet.

Ram Book & Supply at 306 W. Franklin St., half.com, bn.com, amazon.com and Walmart.com have all entered the textbook fray, promising discounted rates and textbooks for less.

Some students are even entering the arena. A student book exchange,

uncexchange.com, also was founded this summer by two UNC students.

Junior Phillip Chang, one of the founders, said the online exchange continues to grow in popularity. The service, essentially a classified listing of textbooks for sale, now has about 220 registered users, Chang said.

A greater selection of books will be available if more students register, he said.

Steve Thurston, manager of Ram Book & Supply, a main local competitor to Student Stores, said his sales have been as good as ever this year. "We are trying to expand our advertising and service every year," Thurston said.

Thurston downplayed the online competitors in the textbook market. "Online book services have always existed," he said. "We will continue to attract the savvy shoppers on campus."

In spite of the wave of new competition, Student Stores officials say sales have remained strong. Student Stores Director John Jones said that through Wednesday textbook sales had increased 2 percent from last year.

"The new textbook options are not affecting us at all," Jones said.

In fact, some students said they were unaware of the new alternatives.

Jordan Boyst, a freshman from Clemmons, preordered his books from Student Stores during his C-TOPS session. "I wasn't really aware of all the other options," Boyst said. "I'll definitely check out all of my options next time."

Jones said that despite the new offerings, Student Stores' policies will remain the same.

"We don't see ourselves competing with these other outlets," he said. "Our priorities are to provide books for all courses and to have the largest selection of used books possible."

Jones said the main advantage of Student Stores is the convenience it offered to both students and faculty.

"Student Stores holds a really important place in the academic structure of the University," Jones said. "We compile the list of books professors intend to use and provide that information to others."

Jones also reiterated that profits made at Student Stores are used to fund student scholarships. "We're not talking about profits going in pockets or being used for fancy cars," he said. "Any money made by Student Stores is going directly back to students."

Consequently, Jones said that if sales took a downturn, scholarship money would be negatively affected. "Unless we cut expenses, we would have to decrease the amount of scholarship money."

Still, many students seem interested in the new options.

Chris Schafer, a junior advertising major, said he thinks the online services could work well as long as books are ordered before the beginning of the semester. "If you ordered them online now they might not arrive for a week because of shipping time," he said.

Grayson Dill, a sophomore history major, bought some of his books at Student Stores and some at Ram Book.

"The student bookstore is essentially a geographical monopoly where they can charge whatever they want," he said. "I like the fact that Ram and the Internet services provide alternative sources for students."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.