Are College Bookstores Doomed?

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E-textbooks and course packs, Braun says, haven't killed the old-fashioned textbook. "There are very few courses that don't use a [print] book in some form or another, whether it's the two-inch-thick chemistry book, or a smaller book to supplement a course pack."

Textbooks fill about half of the store in the Michigan Union. The other half, says store manager Cheryl Hollowood, is "spirit gear" (translation: maize and blue sweatshirts and T-shirts), pens and notebooks, and ... more books! Hollowood says the store's selection of trade books--especially cookbooks and children's books, "the books people most like to put their hands on"--will soon be expanded to fill the vacuum left by Borders.

Barnes & Noble @ the University of Michigan, 530 S. State St. (Michigan Union), 995-8877. Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Sun. umichigan.bncollege.com   

[Originally published in May, 2012.]