It isn’t just tuition that is leaving money-sized holes in students’ pockets as spring semester gets under way, students say. This time of year represents a time when students pace up and down the aisles of bookstores, picking and choosing hardback textbooks for their classes like they were at some kind of overpriced supermarket, dreading the ever-growing price the cash register keeps spitting out.

Buying books for classes is one of those things students know they have to do but usually dread because of the high prices involved. This year, however, there is a new wild card in the deck of the Carbondale book wars.

Some students have become accustomed to pricing books at the University Bookstore or at 710 Bookstore. This year, with competitive prices from the Saluki Bookstore, book prices continue to spiral downward.

Advertisement

As far as I can tell we have been setting the prices this semester, Craig Case, owner of the Saluki Bookstore, 701 East Grand, said. I can’t speak for other people, but it seems to me that there has been a lot of price-checking’ going on around here.

That may be true, because students say prices are down this semester, and the route between 710 and the Saluki Bookstore is beginning to build up traffic.

There is a little more competition this year, but as far as I can tell, it hasn’t affected us, Lee Blankenship, manager of 710 Bookstore, said. When I say that no one is going to beat our prices, I mean it. That isn’t just an advertising ploy. That is how we do business. We have been here for 25 years, and we plan on being here for another 50 at least.

Blankenship said list prices are set down by the publishing industry and book wholesalers, and the mark-up at 710 is extremely low, and he said the students tend to notice that.

As far as sales go, there hasn’t been any type of decrease this semester, he said. We price them with reasonable prices, and the students can tell.

Jim Skiersch, director of the University Bookstore, is saying just the opposite.

With a new store in the area, there is obviously going to be a decrease in some of our sales, Skiersch said. It is something we had planned on, and has no way taken us by surprise.

Advertisement*

Skiersch said the University Bookstore is different because of the way the money goes back into the system.

I like to think of the students stock-holders of this bookstore, he said. We are completely self contained, and the profit that comes from this store goes back into the Student Center.

Skiersch said the money goes toward the maintenance and care of the lounges and other rooms in the Student Center that produce no revenue.

Those rooms don’t have any type of income, and the money has to come from somewhere, he said. The money spent here goes towards other things to help keep prices and cost down.

As the competition is beginning to spread, some students are beginning to head toward the Saluki Bookstore.

I think it is about time students in this town deserve a break, Case said. I felt that this was a good spot to open a new store, and that there is always a little room for some more competition.

The majority of our books are used, and we had a really good buy-back at the end of the last semester. I think there is no question that the students have noticed the lower prices, he said. We want to give students the best possible deals, and we are just going to continue to do our own thing and let what happens happen. I think it is safe to say we are going to be around for a while.