Written by Gina Cielo
With each new semester, students are presented with the ever-so-popular question: Where should I buy my books?With a local textbook store making their debut and Internet sites selling books for half price, the decision seemed to get even harder for students this semester.The Harding Bookstore experienced this competi- tion firsthand, but accord- ing to Mel Sansom, Vice President of Finance, the effects were not substantial.”From what we have seen so far, it hasn’t really impacted us much,” Sansom said. “The sales are pretty steady with last spring’s numbers.”The Harding Bookstore offers many advantages over outside dealers; Students have the ability to simply charge the books straight to their account and it is on campus, making it easy to access, Sansom said.”I buy my textbooks through the Harding Bookstore because it seems like the easiest thing to do,” freshman Alex Ford said. “I think the best thing is not worrying about paying immediately.”Sansom said due to the competition, the bookstore is in the process of more closely comparing their prices to those of out- side sources, looking at ways to lower costs, and potentially buying books back all semester.”We want to do our best and continue to provide excellent services to the students,” Sansom said.Textbook Brokers, a new textbook store located in Searcy, made its debut last semester and created immediate competition to the Harding Bookstore as they bought students’ books back.With roots in White County, co-owner of Textbook Brokers Trey McIntosh said Searcy seemed like an ideallocation due to the large student population. He said he plans on the company becoming a permanent fixture here in the Searcy/ Harding community.With more than 70 stores across the country, McIntosh said the bookstore gives them more used titles than any other textbook chain in the country.”I heard that Textbook Brokers was a cheaper way to get your books and that they would buy them back from me at the end of the year for a better price, so I thought I would give it a try,” senior Melissa Piccino said.Chegg.com, Amazon. com, Half.com and many other textbook sites also entice Harding students not only with their low prices, but also with their fast shipping.”Since freshman year, I have bought my books online because the prices are incredible,” junior Ellen Erwin said. “I have never been dissatisfied with the quality of the books I have bought.”Although most students are done buying textbooks for this semester, it will not be long before they are faced with this decision again.
