Nebraska Book Company (NBC) reports they are closing at least seven “off-campus” textbook bookstores: Florida Book Store, Gainesville, FL; Chattanooga Books, Chattanooga, TN; Madison Textbooks, Madison, WI; Spirit Shop, Lubbock, TX; Traditions Bookstore, College Station, TX; The College Store, Akron, OH; and GotUsed Bookstore, Pittsburgh, PA. The named stores are to remain open for the current textbook high season, for college students seeking cheap textbook rentals, closing sometime in February 2012.
This continues our coverage of Nebraska Book Company’s (NBC) bankruptcy reorganization plans as NBC attempts to recover from filing for Chapter 11 protection in February of 2011, first reported by Reuters. During its bankruptcy filings, NBC said it lost over $100 million in its most recent fiscal year on revenues of over $600 million. NBC reports that it is also evaluating nearly 30% of their other college textbook stores, or at least 40 of their 138 off-campus stores. Nebraska purportedly owns or helps operate nearly 280 bookstores on and off campus, though they claim
Our on-campus stores continue to perform well, and it is our plan to expand the company in this direction
per Barry Major, the company’s current president. Major notes that closing bookstores is not an easy decision, but it must be done in the interest of NBC surviving. He further states, their online textbook sales are growing especially in the area of textbook rentals, and is excited by the prospect of more and more schools wanting to outsource their bookstore operations. Major also sited praise for the company’s debt partners that have stood by NBC as they navigate their way to profitability in an every changing college textbook marketplace.
The story on MarketWatch covers many of the forward-looking statements for NBC.