North Carolina A&T to outsource campus bookstore

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina A&T State University says it plans to outsource the operation of its campus bookstore because of a decline in sales in the last five years.

The News & Record of Greensboro reports (http://bit.ly/YLjYMp) that the school's trustees were told Friday that bookstore sales have decreased 15.7 percent between 2007 and 2012. The decline was pinned on textbook sales. At the same time, personnel expenses for the bookstore have increased.

Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Robert Pompey said students are shopping around for competitive book prices, and are buying books online and at used bookstores.

A&T operates its bookstore, but plans to seek proposals within the next few weeks from other companies to manage the store. The bookstore at nearby UNC Greensboro is managed by Barnes & Noble.

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Information from: News & Record, http://www.news-record.com