The University of Connecticut, which recently announced that it will outsource the UConn Co-op, is close to signing a contract with Barnes & Noble Education that will include opening a store in downtown Hartford in walking distance of the university's new campus on Front Street that opens next year, the Hartford Courant reported. The main campus of the university, and site of the Co-op, is in Storrs. B&N would contribute $1 million to the Hartford bookstore's development.
Trustees are expected to vote on a contract with B&N tomorrow. [In a story yesterday about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill outsourcing its bookstore operations, we erroneously noted that UConn had decided on Follett. Our apologies!]
"You have these great institutions in the city, fabulous theater, the oldest public museum in the country, the Wadsworth," said UConn president Susan Herbst. "Not to have an exciting, professional, big, really thriving bookstore was kind of a hole in the city that we think this will fill."
Details about the proposed B&N contract show why it is attracted to outsourcing: according to the Courant, "the university would receive a commission of 17.5% on sales up to $20 million; 19% on sales between $20 million to $25 million; and 20% on sales over $25 million. Patrick Nevins, a UConn attorney, said the bookstore now generates about $20 million in sales--that translates to about $3.8 million in commission."
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In a similar situation across the country, the University of California at Irvine has decided to outsource the Hill, its longtime campus bookstore, according to New University, the school newspaper.
Despite a campaign to keep the store as is that included a petition signed by nearly 2,000 people, the school will select a company by the end of the month for a seven-year contract, it announced. The school had said it was considering outsourcing early last month and has interviewed three companies, presumably including B&N and Follett.
