The Mt. Hood Community College Bookstore has a new line of jeans for sale, aptly dubbed Def Jam, though the lineup already has a 20 percent discount.

“Just thought I would try something different to see how students felt about carrying something we’ve never carried before,” said bookstore manager Janet Kehn.
Previously, the bookstore had never carried jeans, but the new addition hasn’t come to fruition—at least in terms of revenue. According to Kehn, the sale of jeans has been pretty slow.

Possibilities for the low turnout include a perceived lack of familiarity with the new products, though Kehn also said the jeans could be the wrong mix for MHCC, and added that there may be too much competition elsewhere – all items of note that prompted the bookstore to offer the 20 percent discount.

The only college Kehn has heard of that carries the brand Def Jam is Linn-Benton Community College.

Kehn said she’s always interested in offering new clothing lines in an effort to appeal to the widest group of student population that she can. But, she said, “If our sales don’t increase, then that’s an indication to me that this line of clothing is not popular on this campus.”

In terms of additional, seemingly more desirable, products, Kehn said the bookstore opts not to “get too much into that line because the competition is so great elsewhere,” and the bookstore strives to offer students the best prices, though its business deals primarily in volume. “Nobody’s going to buy [something] from us if we’ve got to charge $30 to $50 more than Wal-Mart or someplace. We’re just careful about what we can sell.”

Careful? The bookstore makes most of its money from books, also its largest expense. Approximately 85 percent of their revenue is generated from book sales. That revenue source is made more lucrative for the bookstore due to a markup placed on the book prices.

“We have a 25 percent margin on our books, which pretty much just covers our [operating] costs,” said Kehn.

The bookstore is not funded through the college – instead, the bookstore is considered self-sufficient in that it pays for itself. “We get no money from the college. Any revenue we generate, we’ve got to pay all of our costs plus give money back to the college,” said Kehn.

According to Kehn, the college “counts on” the bookstore for funding and uses that money toward scholarships, as well as a supplement to the general fund.

“Books, we just consider that a break-even point,” Kehn said.

Sebastian Nitu, who shopped Tuesday in the bookstore, said books are “pretty expensive,” though he did admit there was a diverse selection of other products to choose from – a defining contrast to what Gena Bleisner, another shopper in the bookstore, had to say.
“I think the bookstore is nice, and it’s really well organized, but I think the prices are way, way too high. The products they offer are really good, and it’s everything you need, but you just can’t afford to buy the stuff here, and the book [prices] are ridiculous,” said Bliesner.

For students who are concerned over the price of books at MHCC, Kehn shed some light on the more elusive aspects of price setting.

“Well, as far as the cost of books, the publishers set the price,” said Kehn, “so I don’t really have any control on the price that we’re charged for those books,” iterating the point that not only do instructors, for the most part, pick the books the bookstore orders, but that there is no “extortion,” as one MHCC student put it, going on. However, Kehn did admit she does control the margin placed on the books. “And I don’t really see that changing because, again, we use that margin to cover our costs.”

The perceived outrageousness of book prices, as Kehn acknowledged, could be solved if people shopped more at the bookstore for supplies and clothes, not just for books. “I suppose, in theory, yes: if students really started buying other merchandise and we were making a lot of money on that we probably could lower that margin. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening. I wish it would, but I don’t see it happening,” said Kehn.
One reason the college doesn’t see the kind of consumerism universities witness could be based on school spirit.

“Four-year schools have a stronger demographic of students who want to buy their logo merchandise, because they’re proud of their school and they want to wear it,” said Kehn. “We don’t see that so much at the community college.”

The bookstore employs anywhere from 10 to 30 people on its payroll, though the need for staff fluctuates throughout the year. “That depends on our peak times,” said Kehn of situations like book buy-back week and the weeks leading up to and through the start of each term.

MHCC was built in 1966 and has had a bookstore in place to serve students’ needs from the get go. “We are considered institutionally owned by the college,” said Kehn.