Ventura County Community Colleges will hand over the management of its campus’ bookstores to Barnes and Noble with a five-year contract beginning March 14th, in an attempt to increase sales.

Due to the many cheaper alternatives to purchasing textbooks at the campus bookstore, such as buying new and used texts online or renting, the district is seeing its fifth year of declined sales.

The general management of all three campus bookstores will soon be the responsibility of Barnes & Noble, as motioned and approved by the Board of Trustees on Jan. 21. Once in charge, Barnes & Noble will provide a full-service bookstore for five years. If at the end of the contract both parties wish to continue doing business with each other, the contract may be renewed for three one-year periods.

“We’ll see a more robust store, with better service,” said newly appointed Vice Chancellor of Business and Administrative Services Brian Fahnestock.

Since 2009’s fiscal year, VCCCD’s bookstore sales have decreased roughly $4 million. This led to a June 2013 meeting where the board approved a consulting agreement with Campus Bookstore Consulting to create a transitional plan for the management of the district’s bookstores.

Follett Higher Education Group, Barnes &Noble Booksellers, Inc., and Bookstore cooperative all submitted proposals to the district.

“Barnes & Noble was by far the best,” said Fahnestock.

What makes B&N the best is the full-service bookstore it will be offering students. They’ll bring better availability and affordability, of materials and books, with multiple price points. A used textbook, textbook rental and digital textbook programs will be implemented as a direct response to competitors according to the district’s board meeting agenda.

Bookstores will also be getting an interior face-life in the form of new technology for daily operations, like a better inventory management structure, a point-of-sale system and an improved website.

Doing this, the district hopes it will deliver a “visible representation of the academic quality and image of the District’s Colleges.”

Once the transition of B&N begins, current bookstore employees will be offered an incentive to “retire early” or they can continue working under the management of B&N, says Fahnestock.

Employees will continue to be employed and paid by the district for the duration of the 5 year contract, but will have their costs reimbursed by B&N.

B&N will be providing a technology investment of $160,000 for the improvement of district bookstores, in addition to an annual donation of $15,000 for scholarships, according to the district’s board meeting agenda.

Due to this change in vendor, the bookstore will have a sale in mid-late March that will bring all “spirit wear” items down 50% in price. This includes all items that are marked with a Moorpark emblem.

For more information, please visit the bookstore or contact Iris Ingram, Vice President of Business Services at [email protected].