Carleton University student Ian McEachern browses at Haven Books. (Darren Brown, OBJ)

Carleton's twin tome dealers prepare for profitable month

Katie Rouse is hard to track down these days.

The longtime manager of Haven Books – a student-run bookstore just across the road from Carleton University – spends most of August either going over inventory or checking out what the university charges for the same books.

"As you can see, it's really busy. I have a lot of books to go through," says Ms. Rouse, gesturing towards a waist-high pile of engineering texts piled in front of the store's counter.

Ms. Rouse is busy for a good reason. After all, a great deal of Haven's revenue is at stake during the September rush for books. Last year, the store earned $1.2 million in that month alone.

Just 10 minutes' walk away, however, is the on-campus university bookstore, run by the educational institution and managed by Follett Corp. It usually brings in $3 million that same month, according to Ed Kane, Carleton's assistant vice-president of university services.

But this year, the annual battle of the bookstores will have a new player – the Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA), which represents all undergraduate students. It acquired Haven in February.

"Our first real taste (of competition) will be this September," says CUSA executive co-ordinator James Pratt.

Last September, just in time for the academic school year, Carleton offered a five-per-cent discount to students who bought with their campus debit card. CUSA plans to counteract that in 2009, however, by reducing commission fees at Haven on resale books, of which Haven sells many.

Students will get 95 per cent of the buyer's purchase price rather than the current 80 per cent, explains Mr. Pratt. The store made a small $3,000 profit this past year, and CUSA plans to run the business as a not-for-profit, so he expects the change will not hurt the store's revenues.

Haven opened its doors in August 2002 when three Carleton students, fed up with what they saw as inflated campus bookstore prices, decided to offer a cheaper alternative. That's when the store's past owners found themselves under what they felt was unfair pressure from the university.

What Haven found itself butting against was Carleton's commercial activities policy, put in place to shield all on-campus university businesses from enterprises located off-campus.

The policy was put in place in 1997 after complaints from CUSA, says Ed Kane, Carleton's assistant vice-president of university services.

Mr. Kane emphasizes that from the university's perspective, they treat Haven just like any other off-campus competitor. "We don't do anything special to discourage them or to compete with them," he says.

All three of CUSA's businesses besides Haven, however, are struggling with finances, with profits shrinking and losses deepening in fiscal 2007-08. Final numbers on the $2-million budget will be released in September, but current projections aren't pretty – Rooster's coffee shop, for instance, is expected to post $12,000 loss. The Carleton Unicentre convenience store's profit margin, although pegged at more than $26,000 in 2007-08, has dropped for three straight years.

The campus bar Oliver's has also continued its annual tradition of deep losses. Even cutting the bar's physical size (and rent bill) in half in 2005 didn't completely erase its annual deficit – it's projected to lose $77,000 during 2007-08.

Despite these business problems, Mr. Bozzo says CUSA represents the best chance for Haven to survive in the cutthroat business of student books, thanks to its moral support of Haven's mandate since its inception.

"I'm hoping that they get this one right," he says of CUSA's business acumen.

"The bookstore makes money, so it should be a profitable business for them."

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IN BRIEF

CUSA business net income (including depreciation costs)

Rooster's (coffee shop)

2005-06: $16,762.00

2006-07: $30,179.26

2007-08: -$12,880.00 (projected)

Oliver's (bar)

2005-06: -$149,734.00

2006-07: -$63,380.79 *

2007-08: -$77,050.00 (projected)

Unicentre Store (convenience store)

2005-06: $31,231.77

2006-07: $30,244.54

2007-08: $26,736.00 (projected)

*Renovations halved the size of Oliver's in 2006-07.

Source: CUSA budgets, 2005-07