Tiger Book Shop, the off-campus bookstore at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., will close May 15. The bookstore "served more than a dozen generations of Tigers, but the building's roots date back as far as 40 years under different ownership," Hays Post reported. It is currently hosting a final liquidation sale.
Store manager Jerome Conner, who has led the shop for 17 years, said the Tiger Book Shop had tried to adapt to the evolving landscape of school textbooks: "A lot of the industry went to textbook rentals. We went along with that and gave cheaper options to students so they didn't have to pay as much upfront."
The decline in business was ongoing due to a shift in buying habits, further amplified during the pandemic. "When Covid hit, everything went online with the campus," he said. "It made it more tricky to let students know we were here, and we never really bounced back since then.... We may be one of the last off-campus bookstores in the state of Kansas."