The University of Oregon's Duck Store, which has branches in Eugene, Portland and Bend, recently announced it is eliminating its trade book department, according to the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.
The store, formerly known as the U of O Bookstore, said "changing customer expectations and ongoing pressures within the industry" have led it to "continue to reduce our selection of general-interest book titles. In 2019 we will focus our selection on a small assortment of titles with subject matter related to the University of Oregon and Pacific Northwest travel.
"We continue to believe that the university community should have access to these materials, but increasingly over the past several years other channels have become the preferred source for general-interest books."
PNBA noted that the Duck Store "served as training ground for a seemingly countless number of book professionals and PNBA members, including PGW sales rep Cindy Heidemann; University Book Store's René Kirkpatrick; Fern Ridge Library director, education committee member and Rural Library Project coordinator Colin Rea; former WSU Bookie manager and original RLP coordinator Michael Pritiken; former OSU Bookstore manager Cheryl Maze; former PNBA executive director Thom Chambliss; current PNBA executive director Brian Juenemann; and PNBA executive assistant Larry West. The list goes on and on. The Bookstore does not."