ICBA 2009-2010 Best Practices & Top Performers Awards
Independent College Bookstore Association recognizes 2009-2010 Best Practices and Top Performers Awards among College Bookstores
On Thursday, February 10, 2011, at the ICBA 2011 Retail Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pat McGowan from the University of Wisconsin presented the
2009-2010 Best Practices and Top Performer awards to seven Independent College Bookstore Association (ICBA) member stores.
“The ICBA operating survey is extremely valuable to our company. We use it to benchmark our results against peer stores and to see trends in our industry. It is another great benefit of being an ICBA member.” says Pat McGowan, Director from the University of Wisconsin.
Of the 75 stores that participated in the 2009-2010 Operating Survey, 54 stores were eligible to receive an ICBA Best Practice and Top Performance Award based on the following criteria:
- ICBA Operating Survey participant in each of the last five consecutive years.
- Achieved top performances or best practices demonstrating successful execution of business strategies from 2005 to 2010.
- Award categories were determined based on review of the 2009-2010 results.
- Emphasis was on more of the challenging areas of the college store business.
- Performance was influenced by internal leadership, strategy development and execution.
The ICBA membership congratulates and gives many thanks to the following stores for their outstanding performance and best practices. Each of these stores demonstrates exemplary leadership within the college bookstore industry by establishing and executing successful business strategies from 2005 and into 2010.
Excellence in Technology Product Management
Oregon State University Bookstore
Oregon State University
- Increased technology product sales by 96%
- Maintained gross margin in excess of 12%
- Solid inventory turns of 6.6
Excellence in Student Supplies Management
Georgia Southern University Store
Georgia Southern University
- Increased student supply sales by 26%
- Maintained student supply gross margin at over 50%
- Increased student supply inventory turnover 92% to 2.5 turns
Excellence in General Books Management 
Wildcat Shop
Central Washington University
- Increased general book sales by 8%
- Increased margin to 30.6%
- One of very few stores with an increase in this category
Outstanding Insignia Product Performance 
Boise State University Bookstore
Boise State University
- Increased insignia product sales 130%
- Increased turnover 90% to 4.1 turns
Outstanding Insignia Product Performance
The Duck Store
University of Oregon
- Increased insignia product sales 68% to almost $14,000,000
- Increase turnover 17% to 3.5 turns
- Gross Margin maintained in excess of 45%
- $6,300,000 in margin just from Insignia category
Excellence in Course Books Management 
Olympic College Bookstore
Olympic College
- Increased New Course Book sales by 13%
- Increased Used Course Book sales by 90%
- Maintained 29% net margin
The MVP Award for Overall Outstanding Performance
Valencia Community College Bookstores
Valencia Community College
To participate in the ICBA Operating Survey, a stores must be an ICBA Member. To learn more about the Independent College Bookstore Association and the ICBA Operating Survey, please contact Sadja Pals, ICBA Marketing and Membership Manager, at Sadja@ICBAinc.com or 319.665.2744.
Independent College Bookstore Association Since its inception in 1927, Independent College Bookstore Association continues to be the only professional cooperative dedicated exclusively to institutional collegiate retail stores and owned by its members.
The mission of ICBA is to provide the programs and services that will establish the institutional store model as the preferred management solution for higher education.