Pop-up Bookstore To Open Again 
Other Venues May Prove Competitive 

by Alan Goldsmith

In a continuing effort to provide on-site books and supplies for undergraduate students, Yeshiva’s Department of Supporting Services will retain the retail services of the well-known bookstore franchise Barnes and Noble yet again.  The Wilf Campus “pop-up” store, which will reside in what was once a permanent on-campus bookstore in the vacant shop on the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 186th Street, will be open regularly during the early weeks of both the fall and spring semesters and offer required reading material as well as other course-related supplies.

This year’s pop-up bookstore promises to alleviate some of the problems that cropped up previously.  Last year, due to an eleventh-hour agreement and the subsequent time needed to process faculty requests, the bookstore did not open until the first day of classes, leaving students scrambling to find the free time necessary to make their purchases.

This year, however, the store will open on August 26th, the first day of Orientation, and will remain open for an extra three days, presenting students with some much-needed additional time to procure their materials. With the exception of holidays, the hours will follow a regular schedule until the Sukkos break.  The store will then be open for one final day on October 6th.

Another major problem that the “pop-up” store faced last year was a serious shortage of goods. Many of the necessary books were out of stock in last year’s store, forcing students to resort to Internet vendors or bookstores that required multiple, time-consuming subway rides to arrive at.

According to the store’s general manager, Bobbie Kroman, product shortages are a thing of the past. “As long as we get book lists from professors on a timely basis – prior to June 15 – the books should be available,” said Kroman. “We expect to have well over 90% of the books students need.”

Many problems may still remain, however. To begin with, the lack of space that sparked a flurry of student criticism still weighs heavily on the situation. Students are crammed into small areas, on both campuses, and are forced to endure long lines.  Moreover, despite an increase in employees, only two customers at a time can be helped. Finally, students have voiced perennial frustrations against what Yeshiva College Junior Yoni Frank deemed the “needlessly high prices.”

While students generally turn to a number of different venues for books, a new website service has opened this year promising selection, speed, and pricing that others may not have at their disposal.  Justin Goldberg, a student at New York University’s Stern School of Business, started Bookstorm.com in the summer of 2001. “The NYU bookstore rips everyone off,” said Goldberg. “They would buy a used book for, let’s say, $30 and sell it for $75.”

Bookstorm has allowed students at 11 schools in the New York area to post listings of books to be sold. Other students looking to buy books could do so online for a nominal fee.  In their first year at NYU alone, Bookstorm’s database included 2000 posted books. Credit card payments are made secure through the Pay Pal online payment system to prevent fraud. An arrangement is then made between the two students to meet at a convenient location, and the books change hands there.

This year, Bookstorm will service 17 universities including Yeshiva, which already has 250 books posted on the database by students at all three undergraduate schools. “I have friends at YU who requested we come there, especially since they don’t have a permanent bookstore,” said Goldberg. “Unlike Half.com [a prominent online bookseller], we offer you a convenient way to swap books amongst yourselves. You’ll be buying from someone in your own school, not some guy in Michigan who’ll take a week to ship it to you. And if no one at YU has the book you want, you can take the subway down to someone at NYU who does have it.”

This alternative, as well as others, did not worry Kroman. “We offer a large selection of new and used books, and we additionally have lists of what books are necessary for each class.  And, if you buy the wrong book or drop a class, you have fourteen days from the date of sale to come back and get a full refund. Will the guy down the street be willing to do the same thing? We welcome competition; it makes us all do a better job,” she claimed.

The competition notwithstanding, Director of Supporting Services Jeffrey Rosengarten is confident that the pop-up bookstore will provide students appropriately for the upcoming year. “They’re a big outfit and they know what they’re doing,” said Rosengarten. “Last year was reasonably smooth and we have a sense of trust in them.”

The store hours were drawn-up via suggestions of the undergraduate deans. For most of its short-lived, Wilf Campus existence, the store will open at 9 or 10 AM and will close at 6 or 8 PM, depending on the day. The store’s part-time, pop-up status is also set to continue for the foreseeable future. “YU asked us to make a proposal, and the business was not there to support a year-round bookstore,” said Kroman. “It doesn’t make any financial sense. We wanted to do it, but only under our conditions.”