Marcia Ratliff/Winonan

Although Winona State University’s bookstore is located right on campus, it still has to compete with the “other guys.”
Warrior Textbooks, which opened in fall 2011, is located at 619 Huff Street across from Kwik Trip.

Tony Rikess, who has worked at Warrior Textbooks since November 2012, said Warrior Textbooks guarantees lower prices on every book and promises to buy books back for more than the official

Winona State bookstore does.

Warrior Textbooks store manager Barry Hakes said, “Their markup is so high, there’s room for us to step in. We don’t have to do that.”

However, Warrior Textbooks can’t advertise on campus. “It’s hard getting the word out, especially to freshmen,” Rikess said.

Warrior Textbooks mainly relies on word-of-mouth and Facebook for advertising.

“A lot of students stop in and price check,” Hakes said. “They can at least come and see it.”

Karen Krause, bookstore supervisor at the Winona State Bookstore, said the store has had competitors in the past.

By law, all textbook information from faculty is shared with competitors.

“If they get cheaper books, that’s fine, but for a class of thirty, they only have to stock maybe 11 books,” Krause said of Warrior Textbooks. “But we have to get all 30. We have to eat the cost of unused books.”

“If they had to provide the same service and same number of students, they would have to charge more,” Krause said

The campus bookstore goes through a four-step process to get books for students, including buyback, rental, wholesale, and e-book sales, with the intent to get as many used books as possible.

“We go through these phases before we order it from the publisher, which is of course the most expensive,” Krause said.

“Our price margins are minimal,” she said. “Twenty percent or less.”

Krause also said many prices are ultimately publisher-driven. The bookstore profits stay on the university, funding all of the presidential scholarships and some athletic scholarships as well.

Krause said an advantage to buying books on campus is flexibility in payment options.

“We service all students with special needs, like VA loans,” Krause said. Post-secondary enrollment option students also get service at the bookstore.

While the campus bookstore can charge textbook purchases to student accounts for a $15 service fee, Warrior Textbooks has a similar program, Hakes said.

They allow students to post-date checks for the date financial aid is applied. Megan Mill, textbook manager at the Winona State University Bookstore, said the bookstore provides all supplies students might need for class, including art supplies.

Students also have access to special orders through the bookstore.

Although Warrior Textbooks doesn’t carry supplies or apparel, Hakes said his store will do “anything the bookstore does,” from rentals to custom books to bundles to brand-new books with access codes. Like Krause, he said he tries to stock used books first.

However, Warrior Textbooks cannot service curriculum-based bundles, such as those for nursing classes.

Krause said this is an advantage to shopping at the bookstore. “Here you can be sure that it’s what the professors order,” she said.

Contact Marcia at [email protected]