Vic Books Goneburger: Future of Textbook Purchasing Murky
Words by Zoë Mills (she/they)
On 24 January, Vic Books announced that they will be officially closing down after over 48 years in business. The store shared via social media that the Kelburn campus branch will remain open until 31 March. Employees will stay in their positions until the closure of the store.
This comes less than a year after the closure of the Pipitea branch last July. Anti-mandate protests surrounding the business caused a major loss in revenue.
The university bookshop and cafe is the only store on campus that provides textbooks, stationary, and other essential course materials, as well as serving as the social heart of the Kelburn campus.
However, general manager Jessica Godfrey says that the closure was inevitable due to a decline in students on campus.“The reason that revenue is not enough is because there's not enough people on campus, and the reason that I think there's not enough people on campus is [because of students] working from home and online learning.” Godfrey says it’s a similar trend with other campus businesses:“none of them are making any money.”
Vic Books is owned solely by the VUWSA Trust. Spokesperson Nicholas Green says that operating a solely retail-based store when more students were choosing to study from home was no longer economically viable post-Covid-19.
The Trust acts as a financial backing to VUWSA with a multi- million dollar portfolio of investments, their primary role is creating capital to subsidise the services provided by VUWSA. Green said that Vic Books failed to return a profit to the trust over the past decade. “The more resources we devote to supporting Vic Books, the less the Trust has available to carry out its primary role”, Green said.
The trust earnt $1,416,760 in income and had a total expenditure of $1,347,714 in 2021.
“It has become clear that the pandemic has fundamentally changed the nature of study at Victoria and made running a broad-based retail business on campus immensely challenging,” said Green. “We have therefore accepted the view of the Vic Books board that the business cannot continue in its current form.”
As for students needing to purchase textbooks and course materials for Trimester 2 courses onwards, the future is unclear. No formal plan has been communicated to students since the announcement.
Godfrey understands that students will be able to order textbooks to another space on campus. When asked, Green couldn’t outline a clear plan on behalf of the VUWSA Trust. “We are still working on that,” he said.
The university has echoed a similar statement of uncertainty to students. “Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is currently working through a number of options, but students will still be able to purchase the textbooks they require once Vic Books closes on 31 March. We hope to have further information to share with students in the next two to three weeks.”
In the meantime, Godfrey urges students to engage in local businesses to prevent further closures. “If you value the business, you need to think about how you express your value.”