Visitors to the Trinidad State Bookstore will soon notice changes, as a new contractor takes over the operation. BBA Solutions of Little Rock, Arkansas will operate the college bookstores in both Alamosa and Trinidad.
BBA Director of Business Development Bobby Lorimer said, “We’ll be changing the look and feel of both the locations. Visually the stores will look different. At the Trinidad location we’ll be re-doing the inside throughout the course of the summer, with a big opening in August. Visually the store will look different.” The counter area will be moved and much of the traditional store shelving will be taken out. The result will be more of an open feel, according to Lorimer. The Alamosa bookstore will move down the hall to a more central location across from the President’s Office. The Alamosa store will also feature food that can be heated in a microwave for those staff and students who are in a rush.
“Our goal is to lower the pricing of the textbooks, particularly on textbook rentals for the students. We’ve seen that in a lot of our markets, there’s substantial savings,” said Lorimer. “Our major focus as a company is price, and also service. When you come in the store, now all the books will be behind a book counter. All a student has to do is walk in with their schedule, they tell our staff, ‘Hey, I’m taking these classes’ and we go and get the books for them and bring them back up. This allows accuracy, reduces anxiety for the student and third, it increases the speed, so there’s a lot less wait times in the bookstore as well.”
New clothing lines featuring Trinidad State branding will be introduced with an eye toward moving the inventory faster. Parents and fans will be able to buy Trinidad State gear online, with orders shipped daily. The Trinidad Bookstore will continue to have a gunsmithing section, to support the special needs of that program.
“This is a solid step forward for us,” said Trinidad State President Dr. Carmen Simone. “We believe BBA Solutions will bring needed bookstore expertise to our campuses, while at the same time providing the kind of “Students First” customer service we strive for. We’re excited about the possibilities.”
BBA Solutions operates more than 100 bookstores around the country.