"If anyone told me 20 years ago that some day I would reach near-full
retirement eligibility and that I would take on a more demanding,
complicated job, I wouldn't believe it," Ken Bowers said with a tone of
wonder. "I could be sipping mai tais on a beach in Maui."
In fact, at age 59, able to retire with nearly his full pay or the cash equivalent after 25 years as the head of the bookstore at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Bowers decided to forgo a Hawaiian idyll for what he called "a lot of new challenges." Last February, 25 years to the day after joining UCSB, he left and several days later became director of the Stanford Bookstore in Stanford, Calif.
Among the challenges and changes: while UCSB had one store selling 15,000 titles, Stanford consists of six very different stores. Besides the 62,000-sq.-ft. main store that has more than 130,000 titles, "one of the largest college book departments in the country," the "bookstore" includes the museum shop at the Cantor Center for the Arts; the Stanford Shop at the Stanford Shopping Center, a mall; the Stanford Professional Bookstore, a three-story shop in downtown Palo Alto that has had a medical and technical emphasis but that is now becoming more of a "community resource"; the Track House, a store next to Stanford's athletic facilities whose bestselling items are athletic apparel and beverages; and a convenience store in the student union. "No two are the same," Bowers said. "Just coordinating management is a lot of fun."
Another challenge: everyone in the executive team, including the textbook manager, trade book manager, general merchandise manager and assistant director, has held his or her position less than a year. "There is no institutional memory at the executive level," Bowers said. "But the good news is that they are all extremely competent and have great credentials. In time, they are going to be very, very powerful."
View from the Dark Side
The other great change is that Bowers went from an institutional store, in other words, one run by the university, to a contract management store, one leased by a chain, in this case Follett Corp.'s Higher Education Group, which, among other things, manages stores on more than 700 campuses. "One of the reasons I made the change," Bowers explained, "is out of intellectual curiosity. I've always wanted to see what it would be like. I had talked with Follett about doing something like this if the right job came along. The right job did come along, and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
Of course, contract management (the other main player is Barnes & Noble College) evokes "a lot of fear" among college booksellers, as Bowers put it. In fact, Bowers has been teased frequently about his "move to the dark side." A former National Association of College Stores president who is still involved in NACS and CAMEX activities, Bowers recently was presented with a Star Wars book and a Pez dispenser with a Darth Vader head on top by the NACS executive committee.
Concerning the Follett experience, Bowers essentially said so far, so good. "They've done everything to make this a smooth and successful transition. It's not at all the dark side a lot of people would like to think." Bowers described the differences from UCSB "subtle. There's no question that in a chain-store environment that more decisions are made at the home office. I don't view it as bad, just as different. The flip side is that in Oak Brook [the Chicago suburb where the Follett Higher Education Group's home office is], a whole team of professional people is there to help. It's a resource that's difficult to come by if we were a standalone store."
Bowers expressed a hope that eventually the fear of contract management would abate. "As time goes by and myths fade," he continued, "more people will be willing to work at a contract management store. The bottom line is that if you love the book business, the mode of ownership doesn't matter."
Course Work
Bowers has several projects in the work; perhaps the biggest involves receiving. Bowers wants to lessen the store's emphasis on central distribution and have more "store-specific" deliveries, eventually working up to a just-in-time approach.
He also plans to put a stronger emphasis on commencement programs and offer more graduate packs. He'll introduce a product that he had at UCSB that worked so well it has been picked up by more than 100 other schools: a graduation stole, "sort of like a neck tie," featuring the school name and seal, that graduates wear over their cap and gowns. After the ceremony, graduates can give the stole to people who have made a difference, whether family members or professors or friends.
The Stanford Bookstore's flagship store and Ken Bowers (left) with Tom Peters, a
keynote speaker at CAMEX last spring.
Bowers also wants to have more "event-related selling." Thus, at buy back and rush periods, the store will put up balloons and banners, have entertainment and music, to "introduce the element of fun and excitement. We need to create a party environment in the retail setting."
This is particularly important at the six buy back periods, he said, since "we have to have used books to sell used books" and we want the students to feel "we are not taking them for granted."
Besides taking on the new job, Bowers has made a striking change on a personal level. "We gave up a 2,700-sq.-ft. house in rural Santa Barbara County with 50-100 palm trees for an 18th floor penthouse in South San Francisco with no balcony, one living plant and windows that open just a little bit," he said with a tone of amazement. "We traded our scenic lush garden for a view of the bay and the bridge. Call me crazy, but I enjoy every day."
In fact, at age 59, able to retire with nearly his full pay or the cash equivalent after 25 years as the head of the bookstore at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Bowers decided to forgo a Hawaiian idyll for what he called "a lot of new challenges." Last February, 25 years to the day after joining UCSB, he left and several days later became director of the Stanford Bookstore in Stanford, Calif.
Among the challenges and changes: while UCSB had one store selling 15,000 titles, Stanford consists of six very different stores. Besides the 62,000-sq.-ft. main store that has more than 130,000 titles, "one of the largest college book departments in the country," the "bookstore" includes the museum shop at the Cantor Center for the Arts; the Stanford Shop at the Stanford Shopping Center, a mall; the Stanford Professional Bookstore, a three-story shop in downtown Palo Alto that has had a medical and technical emphasis but that is now becoming more of a "community resource"; the Track House, a store next to Stanford's athletic facilities whose bestselling items are athletic apparel and beverages; and a convenience store in the student union. "No two are the same," Bowers said. "Just coordinating management is a lot of fun."
Another challenge: everyone in the executive team, including the textbook manager, trade book manager, general merchandise manager and assistant director, has held his or her position less than a year. "There is no institutional memory at the executive level," Bowers said. "But the good news is that they are all extremely competent and have great credentials. In time, they are going to be very, very powerful."
View from the Dark Side
The other great change is that Bowers went from an institutional store, in other words, one run by the university, to a contract management store, one leased by a chain, in this case Follett Corp.'s Higher Education Group, which, among other things, manages stores on more than 700 campuses. "One of the reasons I made the change," Bowers explained, "is out of intellectual curiosity. I've always wanted to see what it would be like. I had talked with Follett about doing something like this if the right job came along. The right job did come along, and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
Of course, contract management (the other main player is Barnes & Noble College) evokes "a lot of fear" among college booksellers, as Bowers put it. In fact, Bowers has been teased frequently about his "move to the dark side." A former National Association of College Stores president who is still involved in NACS and CAMEX activities, Bowers recently was presented with a Star Wars book and a Pez dispenser with a Darth Vader head on top by the NACS executive committee.
Concerning the Follett experience, Bowers essentially said so far, so good. "They've done everything to make this a smooth and successful transition. It's not at all the dark side a lot of people would like to think." Bowers described the differences from UCSB "subtle. There's no question that in a chain-store environment that more decisions are made at the home office. I don't view it as bad, just as different. The flip side is that in Oak Brook [the Chicago suburb where the Follett Higher Education Group's home office is], a whole team of professional people is there to help. It's a resource that's difficult to come by if we were a standalone store."
Bowers expressed a hope that eventually the fear of contract management would abate. "As time goes by and myths fade," he continued, "more people will be willing to work at a contract management store. The bottom line is that if you love the book business, the mode of ownership doesn't matter."
Course Work
Bowers has several projects in the work; perhaps the biggest involves receiving. Bowers wants to lessen the store's emphasis on central distribution and have more "store-specific" deliveries, eventually working up to a just-in-time approach.
He also plans to put a stronger emphasis on commencement programs and offer more graduate packs. He'll introduce a product that he had at UCSB that worked so well it has been picked up by more than 100 other schools: a graduation stole, "sort of like a neck tie," featuring the school name and seal, that graduates wear over their cap and gowns. After the ceremony, graduates can give the stole to people who have made a difference, whether family members or professors or friends.
The Stanford Bookstore's flagship store and Ken Bowers (left) with Tom Peters, a
keynote speaker at CAMEX last spring.Bowers also wants to have more "event-related selling." Thus, at buy back and rush periods, the store will put up balloons and banners, have entertainment and music, to "introduce the element of fun and excitement. We need to create a party environment in the retail setting."
This is particularly important at the six buy back periods, he said, since "we have to have used books to sell used books" and we want the students to feel "we are not taking them for granted."
Besides taking on the new job, Bowers has made a striking change on a personal level. "We gave up a 2,700-sq.-ft. house in rural Santa Barbara County with 50-100 palm trees for an 18th floor penthouse in South San Francisco with no balcony, one living plant and windows that open just a little bit," he said with a tone of amazement. "We traded our scenic lush garden for a view of the bay and the bridge. Call me crazy, but I enjoy every day."