Bookstore prepares for move to student union
New technology, Web site to speed service
Katherine Poythress
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
The Hillsdale College Bookstore has made changes to its inventory and sales systems that could smooth its upcoming move to the Grewcock Student Union.
The store will close its doors in the Dow Leadership Center and begin moving into the union on Nov. 12. It is scheduled to reopen Dec. 3 - in time for students to sell their fall semester textbooks back to the store.
"It will be a little bit awkward, and there will be a period of time when there will not be a store, but we picked the greatest down period to do it," Vice President of Administration
Rich Pewe said of the move. "It's a slow week from a sales standpoint."
The bookstore decided to implement an Internet-based inventory and sales system, or point-of-sale system, this summer instead of after its move to ease the transition to the new technology. The bookstore is also building a Web site to allow more student and faculty control over book reservations and purchases.
Bookstore Director Vicki Nash, who oversaw the installation of the POS system, said she hopes that making changes before the move will make the move go more quickly. The system allows bookstore staff to scan items once when they are sold instead of scanning for inventory purposes and then manually entering prices.
The new system also allows for gift cards instead of the formerly-used paper certificates, more discount opportunities and online purchasing capabilities.
Nash said that, because the new system is more technologically advanced than the manual process, it is much easier to use.
"Finally, we're into the real world here," she said.
Before this summer, the most recent major improvement the bookstore had made occurred 10 years ago with the installation of an inventory system for textbooks, Nash said. The bookstore also previously handled book reservations and all sales manually.
Now transactions take substantially less time, Nash said, and lines moved quicker than ever during fall registration for classes in August.
The store will close its doors in the Dow Leadership Center and begin moving into the union on Nov. 12. It is scheduled to reopen Dec. 3 - in time for students to sell their fall semester textbooks back to the store.
"It will be a little bit awkward, and there will be a period of time when there will not be a store, but we picked the greatest down period to do it," Vice President of Administration
Rich Pewe said of the move. "It's a slow week from a sales standpoint."
The bookstore decided to implement an Internet-based inventory and sales system, or point-of-sale system, this summer instead of after its move to ease the transition to the new technology. The bookstore is also building a Web site to allow more student and faculty control over book reservations and purchases.
Bookstore Director Vicki Nash, who oversaw the installation of the POS system, said she hopes that making changes before the move will make the move go more quickly. The system allows bookstore staff to scan items once when they are sold instead of scanning for inventory purposes and then manually entering prices.
The new system also allows for gift cards instead of the formerly-used paper certificates, more discount opportunities and online purchasing capabilities.
Nash said that, because the new system is more technologically advanced than the manual process, it is much easier to use.
"Finally, we're into the real world here," she said.
Before this summer, the most recent major improvement the bookstore had made occurred 10 years ago with the installation of an inventory system for textbooks, Nash said. The bookstore also previously handled book reservations and all sales manually.
Now transactions take substantially less time, Nash said, and lines moved quicker than ever during fall registration for classes in August.
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