Has anyone heard anything about stores closing in the near future if the school doesn't go with Access?
8 replies (most recent on top)
Sorry to bump an old thread but this didn't seem worthy of a new individual post:
Looks like Portland State University is not renewing its contract with Follett because a store manager, assistant store manager and general merchandise manager position just opened up on BNED's website for Portland State University. No clue if this has anything to do with Access or not and I haven't found any articles online yet stating when the store is opening as B&N (given the timing I would suspect either late Summer or Fall 2021).
I fully expect them to close a bunch of smaller stores that are not money makers. The strong arm approach does not work with small colleges. (You either get ACCESS or we are pulling out) is a c-appy way to run a business. Once they decide they are closing I would be giving discounts to everyone, need to return a book a month after classes started? no problem. Honestly my allegiance is to the college not this company
From a bottom line perspective we’ll over 60% of locations are liabilities not profit centers. Challenge is how to close more than half the stores and not send shock waves that result in the ones they want to keep opting out over concerns of the family’s finances.
Every dollar on a store losing money is a dollar that could go to a family member's dividend check!
How long can they keep a store open and lose money?
They've cut staff as low as possible. What is left, no staff and a coffee can at the front of the store...
Leave what ever you feel like!
This exact scenario happened to store #0327. So, yes it does happen.
There will be many who do love a good trolling and will say 'yes! look out! Something vaguely ship related and doom!' In the scheme of things the previous poster is spot on. Unless your store becomes a major liability with no redeeming features there's a lot tied up in contract abandonment. Normally we're handed our hat by the campus, not the other way around.
I would be surprised if they close stores unless they're losing tons of money. It's a lot of time, effort, and cost to close a store. Plus, don't forget, every store now serves as a textbook warehouse to fulfill for other stores. Unless a school wants out of a contract, which they may after this disaster of a year with no customer service due to no staff, shipping issues, vendor holds, etc, then I don't see Follett willingly close them. Just my opinion though. We'll see.