Today I had enough. After advertising their “Biggest Special Ever” our lovely bookstore canceled orders for myself, S, JB, pipkins and probably several others that don’t post here regularly.
I made this months ago, and felt bad about letting it go public, but I’m tired of getting a raw deal from the only place that provides us merchandise.
Barnes and noble has to go. I don’t know, or care how, but this deal is awful.
Barnes and Nobles are writing checks to UNC Charlotte and that’s all that matters. Whether the bookstore is profitable or not. On top of that, all overhead is coming out of B&N’s pocket as well. The university has taken the easy way out for economic reasons. In the meantime, B&N will continue to be beholden to shareholders. Not students, staff, alumni, fans of Charlotte. So, the inventory will always suck. In regards to prices, their margins are out of whack because there’s no competition.
The only fix to this is email Chris Fuller and Mike Hill and tell them B&N sucks. Open an Athletics contract with Fanatics and sell Charlotte merchandise through Fanatics, via the Charlotte 49ers website. Maybe even open a brick and mortar store at the stadium. B&N can do whatever the hell they want at that point. Sell pens, stationeries, and books.
At some point, I hope we go with a rebranding and we will see more inventory online. I’ve argued this for years however, I live out of state, and it’s the same ole, same ole. It’s been low priority for too long and a huge miss in revenue. I feel your pain tho!
Current deal with B&N keeps Athletics from operating a store front.
The problem is B&N contractually owns the online portion as well as all campus sales - similar to Chartwells and food. Athletics is more than aware of all this, but for them to do their own thing they need the admin of the school to change the contract and allow athletics to do their own thing. The issue is if B&N loses the retail portion then the payout to the schools goes down. With books no longer being the money maker they rely on some of the other products to turn a profit.
We just need the new chancellor to see this relationship differently.