Local bookstores are eager to help MSU students
With Mississippi State University having started its spring semester classes a little over a week ago, students are vigilant on the hunt for the right books for their classes.
That means a lot of business for local bookstores like Campus Book Mart and Campus Bookstore.
Stan Raye is the store manager for Campus Book Mart behind the Baptist Student Union on campus, and he understands how important it is for his store to supply the books that students need.
“There is supposedly a book requirement for each class, although they can sometimes get by just going to class instead of buying books, that’s up to the instructor,” said Raye. “But being a bookstore, we rely on having the books for the classes and having the students buy said books.”
Campus Book Mart, along with other local bookstores, always have the constant objective of not only providing the books that students
need for their classes but also to compete with large online retailers such as Amazon and Chegg.
“We get the requisitions from the university through Barnes and Noble on campus, and they get them from each instructor from each department. Some books come with an access that may be specialized just for Mississippi State, some books are custom published just for Mississippi State, so there are some books that you cannot get online,” said Raye. “Students may not realize this, but sometimes we sell them for cheaper than they can get on Amazon. Just having the correct book in stock is key to helping the student know that they have picked up the right book. We have the department number and section number, and Amazon and Chegg don’t have that. We also rent books and sell digital books to save students money, so we do what we can to compete with the online competition.”
Raye also said local bookstores like his have a great advantage over online retailers like Amazon or Chegg by knowing exactly what the MSU student needs for their classes.
Joni Young is the manager for Campus Bookstore in the shopping center behind Chicken Salad Chick, and she has a simple goal for her store when it comes to business.
“Just making sure that [MSU students] have all the textbooks they need for their classes and at the cheapest price,” Young said.
When it comes to trying to stay competitive against online retailers and other local stores, Young does the best she can to adapt and offer the best deal possible.
“We do try to stay competitive, especially with those big online retailers. We price our books accordingly to where we’re a few dollars cheaper than what you can find online. So, we are more competitive with the online prices,” said Young. “That way they can get their books locally and they’re helping a local business, rather than just buying them from Amazon who is basically controlling the world. Our rental prices are very much competitive to those online prices you see on there. We also offer price matching. If they happen to find a cheaper price through Chegg or Amazon, they can tell us that and we will price match it to the best of our ability.”