Share this story.

New Bookstore Manager Is Here to Serve

By Ginger Shepherd

---

Click Photo to Enlarge Debbie Haymaker is new to the ORU Bookstore, but she comes with valuable retail experience.

Click Photo to Enlarge Haymaker works with one of her employees at the cash register as the bookstore and its employees geared up for the first week of students.

Click Photo to Enlarge Haymaker stocks textbooks in an effort to prepare for the onslaught of students.

The ORU Bookstore's new manager isn't out to make major changes to the store. Her goal is to make sure the needs of her customers--whether they be students, faculty, or alumni--are met.

Debbie Haymaker, the store's new manager, is a veteran retailer. She said she has been involved in retail since college, and most recently has managed Coldwater Creek and Gap stores as well as other retail stores.

She took over the bookstore in mid-October because managing a university bookstore provided a different type of schedule.

"It's an opportunity to spend more time with my family," Haymaker said, explaining that the bookstore doesn't automatically require her to work in the evenings and on weekends. It means she can watch her children's sporting events and other activities. Haymaker has three children.

While the new position provides a chance to spend more time with her family, it allows her to continue doing what she likes to do most: "providing service to those with a need."

Haymaker said she looks forward to working with faculty (and students too) and making sure needs are met.

But that isn't the only group she wants to serve. The bookstore spent the past few weeks gearing up for its big rush. She said unlike traditional retailers who have big rushes and sales during the Christmas season, roughly between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the bookstore's rush takes place as students gear up for the spring semester.

The bookstore made sure some students' needs were met before they walked in the store's door in early January. Haymaker said students have the option of ordering their books online at oru.bkstr.com, where all of the books are listed, along with some ORU merchandise.

When students make the order online, she said, bookstore staff will pull those books for the students and have them ready when the students come to the store. Additionally, the staff tries to be aware of book costs, so they generally pull used books first for the online students, she added.

Part of filling customers' needs is making sure they know what is available to them. Haymaker said the bookstore is planning a remodel of sorts in February. The remodel will actually be more of a rearrangement.

She said the goal of the remodel is to allow people to see more of what the bookstore has to offer as far as apparel, gifts, and books for leisure reading, and to show that it is more than just a place to get textbooks.

Additionally, she wants to get the word out about special promotions or events at the bookstore. One example, she said, is the discount event the store runs a day after a men's basketball game.

Haymaker said the discount is based on how many three-point shots the men's team scores in a home game. The discount (a maximum of 24 percent) is given the day after the game. The bookstore starts the discount at 3 percent and then multiplies it by the number of points scored from three-point shots. For instance, if the Golden Eagles scored six three-pointers, then the discount would be 18 percent. The discount is applied to all items that feature the ORU logo.

And that isn't the end of the savings. Haymaker said the bookstore can help students get up to an 85 percent discount on software.

For those students that want to purchase a university ring, the store has announced the dates when a Jostens representative will be taking orders: Feb. 2 and Feb. 3.