No takeover: bookstore

Concordia’s bookstore will remain under Concordia’s control, its director said.
Last month, the CBC reported Indigo/Chapters approached college and university bookstores across Canada with buyout offers.
Lina Lipscombe said she was unaware of any real consideration by administration to negotiate with Chapters Campus Bookstores, a division of Chapters inc.
Lipscombe said that Concordia’s bookstore was in no financial difficulty and therefore in no danger of succumbing to privatization. Even if there was talk of out-sourcing to a private firm, Chapters would not be considered because of their track record for strong-arm tactics and poor dealings with suppliers and publishers.
She confirmed that she had heard college and universities elsewhere were approached by the book retailing giant with offers of out-sourcing.
According to Lipscombe an injunction was passed forbidding Indigo/Chapters from opening more bookstores because of unfair competition tactics, Indigo/Chapters turned to campus bookstores as a means of expansion.
In 1997, McGill University was the first Canadian University to out-source their bookstore to Chapters Inc.
Lipscombe said that McGill’s bookstore was in fair shape before Chapter’s took up the management position. What started off with promises of a coffee shop in the bookstore and periodicals in the lounging area, ended with publishers and suppliers not being paid and textbooks not arriving on time. In desperation, some McGill students tried finding their textbooks at Concordia’s bookstore, said Lipscombe.