The University of Arizona Bookstore

Introduction

The purpose of this photo blog is to rethink the role of the bookstore at the University of Arizona (UA). A good amount of students go to the UA bookstore when they come to the campus. As an incoming freshman, my initial impression was that the bookstore would be a place where I would begin my academic journey. This is where I would go to buy the textbooks that I had ordered for my classes. I expected the University’s bookstore to primarily sell textbooks and other items that students would need for classes like notebooks, calculators and office supplies. However, after spending time at the bookstore, I saw that I had misinterpreted its aim. I realized that this space is much more about commercialism than academics and it treated us much more like consumers than students. While I expected the bookstore’s role to be primarily to provide books and materials that were directly related to my academic studies, I found that its main role was to generate profits just like any ordinary store.

 A review of the bookstore’s use of its space provides some valuable insight into its purpose. Less than half of the space at the bookstore is dedicated to selling any kind of books and only a very small portion of its space is dedicated to selling textbooks. As the photographs that follow will show, more of the bookstore’s space is used to sell merchandise that is either only loosely related to academics or not related to academics at all. These products from financially motivated corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, and others seem to be the main source of profit for the bookstore because they are given the prime selling locations.

The Subtle Beginning of Commercialism

This photo shows a part of the main floor of the bookstore with festive flags from many different countries and a bright globe featured on the floor. When I first saw these, I thought they might be there to make the international students feel welcome. However, after analyzing the total space, I realize that this is just a colorful display that is designed to make the bookstore look like a fun and inviting place for students to shop. Its role is to enhance the bookstore’s ability to sell products rather than welcome incoming students to the university.

The photo also shows many displays of non-academic books. Some of these books are visually attractive and some are best-selling books, but very few of them are directly related to the course work at the university. Over the door in the right corner, is the sign "General Books” and the books offered here are not specifically academic, but are on a wide variety of general topics like travel and nature. It is worth noting that the items that are not displayed in this prominent area may be important because of their absence. There are no textbooks on the main floor of the bookstore. The textbooks are out of sight in a corner of the lower floor that a shopper would only go to if buying a textbook was their specific purpose. 

Wildcat Frenzy of Materialism

In this photo, the commercialism that the UA bookstore is really about becomes even more obvious. This area shows a retail space crammed full of merchandise. The stuff for sale here is not academic at all, but a bunch of UA booster products. The sign on the back wall says "Wildcat Frenzy" as if we, the students and visitors, are supposed to be transformed into wild supporters of a prestigious university's sports teams through this merchandise. The sign makes me think of other materialistic shopping frenzies like the “Tickle Me Elmo” toy craze of the 1990’s where parents felt that they had to buy the fad toy for their children’s Christmas and so, were willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a toy with a thirty dollar retail price and even injured a WalMart employee in one store during a crazed stampede to get one of the limited number of Elmo’s.

The sales lady at the conveniently located counter is there to quickly ring up our impulse purchases of merchandise with many kinds of UA logos. The shirts, hats, plates, backpacks, candy, and many other trinkets are there for students, parents, and other visitors to buy, so we all can show just how enthusiastic we are about UA.

Apple Products That Appeal To Students

This photo from the lower level of the bookstore shows the impact of the current leading commercial trend setter, Apple. This very expensive merchandise is interesting, but also gets quickly outdated by the same brand's faster, smarter version of the same item introduced just months later. The most expensive screens/laptops are prominently displayed to tempt the student into looking at them and buying them. Underneath the display table is the “grab and go inventory” that makes it fast and easy to take these products to the cash register to buy them. All of these boxes are lined up in the same way to provide an impactful visual display of the Apple brand logo. In the background, there is a tall stand of headphones that look interesting, but in reality do not deliver the best sound quality. However, the big consumer electronics companies want students to buy these accessories so the companies can make more profit. On the wall, you can see many extra accessories that are less expensive and may be lower quality, but coming from a university bookstore seem better than at Radio Shack. This expensive merchandise probably sells very well early in the term, as the UA bookstore conveniently allows students to use their Cat card to buy textbooks or any other bookstore merchandise in the first three weeks of the semester so that it is charged to their parents Bursar's account.

Students as Consumers

This photo features the Starbucks Coffee store within the bookstore. The lettering of the Starbucks sign is bigger than any sign about books in the store. By making this sign bigger and locating the Starbucks in one of the highest traffic locations, the bookstore is making the Starbucks stand out more for shoppers. This says to me that the bookstore is trying to sell more Starbucks’ coffee and food products than books because they are more profitable.  There are lots of display stands of their food, beverage and related products with the Starbucks logo on them placed so students in line to buy a cup of coffee can browse and pick them up to buy while they wait their turn at the cash register. Most important, this is the location where the most shoppers can be seen in any of the photographs. This store within the bookstore is the busiest place of all. There is not a single textbook here, but instead students and faculty just come here to get a cup of coffee and socialize with their peers. In a way, it is the ultimate visual statement that the UA bookstore is a place of consumerism and commercialism that is designed to sell all types of products that students can be enticed into buying.

The University of Arizona bookstore seemed to present itself as a provider of textbooks and school supplies for the university’s population when I initially arrived. However, an analysis of the space shows a different purpose for the bookstore. The store offers many more high priced electronics, UA logo clothes, university trinkets, and trendy beverage items than it does textbooks. It allocates more floor space to these items and displays them more prominently and in higher traffic locations than textbooks and school supplies. The bookstore also makes it easy for students to buy this extra stuff by allowing students to charge it to their Bursar’s account for the first few weeks and by locating cash registers and sales people nearby to enable impulse purchases. Now, I believe the bookstore’s main purpose is to turn students into consumers who will spend as much as possible there.