The contract between Loyola and Nebraska Book Company, the former managment company for Loyola’s bookstore, has ended, ushering a return to the corporate firm Follett Higher Education Group.
Follett HEG is a subsidiary of Follett Corporation, that grossed $2.5 billion in sales for 2007, according to Yahoo Finance.
In comparison, Nebraska Book Company grossed just over half a billion in 2008, according to Hoovers.com.
Ivon Fascio, general manager for the Loyola bookstore, said “Nebraska Books had their niche, too. A college like Loyola would be a big fish to them, so you’d get a lot of individual attention.”
Yahoo Finance reports that Follett has 760 campus locations. According to Fascio, Follett’s size affords them huge buying power, which allows Follett leverage. For example, Follett has promotional partnerships with Coca-Cola and United Artists.
Loyola began accepting bid proposals from bookstore management firms in February and they were reviewed by a panel of “students, faculty, members of the Administrative Senate and representatives from Student Affairs and Academic Affairs,” according to a university press release.
The panel unanimously decided on Follett based on the company’s presentation.
“I think the committee was very impressed with the level of preparedness that they came with not only in their written response , (but also) their oral response,” said Chris Cameron, director of the Office of Co-Curricular Programs. He said that every time panel members would ask a question, Follett representatives were prepared to give a detailed response.
Cameron also said the he believes Follett has surpassed the competition in areas such as sustainability, fair labor and trade and social justice practices.
During the buy-back period last fall semester, the bookstore had suffered significant losses due to organized thieves under Nebraska Book’s watch. Fascio spoke with Follett regional management about this and told The Maroon that this information would have been disclosed to the company in official statements.
“I’m pretty sure they’re going to come in with cameras and magnetic anti-theft devices. I would expect to see that pretty quickly,” said Fascio.
As stated in a Loyola press release, Follett plans on renovating the bookstore and creating a satellite store in the unused merchant space near Flambeaux’s.
Elio DiStaola, director of public and campus relations at Follett HEG, said in an e-mail, “We are planning a complete renovation of the bookstore; with plans to complete it by fall back-to-school … exact dates are still in development.”
During the renovation, the bookstore will temporarily relocate to the Danna Student Center Art Gallery across the hall from Satchmo’s.
A change that Follett will bring is the introduction of “BookNow,” an extension of LORA that would allow students to order their books when registering for classes.
In 2003, Loyola’s administration had severed ties with Follett. Chris Cameron, director of Co-Curricular Activities said, “Essentially the bookstore was not making money for (Follett) and so then they wanted us to take less commission.”
He also said that taking a smaller commission would have made tuition go up for students.
In 2000, two Loyola students discovered that a majority of the clothing sold by Follett was made in sweatshops in developing countries.
Since then, Follett has partnered with the Fair Labor Association and created their own “Vendor Labor Code of Conduct” that they maintain that the manufacturers from which they buy adhere to.
DiStaola stated in the same e-mail, “Today 95 percent of the Follett’s clothing suppliers and more than 50 percent of our gift vendors are affiliated with the FLA.
In addition to the provisions which exist under the signed codes of both Follett and the FLA, each year select vendors are subject to random third party monitoring visits.”
According to the Loyola press release, Ernst & Young audits manufacturer labor conditions. According to Forbes, Ernst & Young is the seventh largest private company.
Jean-Paul Arugello can be reached at [email protected].
