Discount Bookstore Looks to Expand Its Business In Connecticut
By Jason Cunningham
BizQuest.com, known as “The Original Business for Sale Website,” recently showed a listing for a “Hartford County College Bookstore” that is “adjacent to a major university” and located in a “shopping plaza with strong student exposure and traffic.” This bookstore was none other than Another Bookstore, the abode of books that are guaranteed to always be cheaper than their competition’s, which is mainly the CCSU Bookstore.
“It wasn’t our intension to sell the business, we were actually checking to see what it’s worth,” said Rob Crosgrove, co-owner and general manager of Another Bookstore. “We’d like to open another store at another location.”
According to Crosgrove, Another Bookstore has been able to flourish based on its convenient location in the well-trafficked shopping plaza across the street from campus, a situation that he says will be difficult to replicate. Crosgrove, who has co-owned Another Bookstore for the past six years, can remember when the store was founded back in 1991.
“I’ve been working at this place since it was The Other Bookstore, so it’s going on 20 since I’ve been here,” said Crosgrove. “The store has been extremely beneficial to the community. It was started by a former student and a professor with the student body in mind.”
That student’s name is Todd Szoka. The Hartford Courant published an article on Szoka in 1993 titled “Former Student In Competition With Alma Mater,” which highlighted the underdog store’s success at putting a major dent in the revenue of the campus bookstore. According to the article, Szoka credited his success to the excellent service provided at the store as well as the “countercultural atmosphere” that helped define it. Another Bookstore’s owners, all of whom are former employees of Szoka’s, have kept those philosophies alive and are eager to extend them to other students in Connecticut.
“If we find a good location we can offer [competitive] prices to another school. A lot of students from other universities come here for their books. Even when we don’t have them they can still order them here for less,” said Crosgrove.
Helping students save does come at a price however. The use of CCSU’s Blue Chip Card by students takes its toll on Another Bookstore every semester.
“We take a big hit for accepting Blue Chip. The cost is three times higher than most credit cards. We don’t raise prices which means we make no profit whatsoever,” said Crosgrove. “We have to take because so many students use it.”
Bruce Seymour, co-owner and business development manager of Another Bookstore, says that no matter how hard it is to keep prices low, it’s a tradition that’ll be continued for as long as the store is in business.
“We’ll never raise our prices to compensate for what we loose because of Blue Chip. It’s rough to take an 11 percent hit, but the money goes back into the school and it helps keep us on good terms,” said Seymour.
If all goes as planned, Another Bookstore will be able to bring their countercultural atmosphere and low prices to a second location. No worries to Another Bookstore’s loyal costumers, it will still remain right across the street, offering cheaper prices on books and providing a different type of environment for students’ back to school shopping.
“Hopefully incoming students will come down to check us out and ignore any bad things they might hear about us,” said Crosgrove. “They can save hundreds of dollars here.”
