On May 30, Hopkins announced that it would end its partnership with Barnes & Noble as the operator of the Hopkins campus store. In its place, the University selected the Follett Higher Education Group to manage the store and support the distribution of Hopkins materials. As of this summer, the new campus store has reopened with a fresh layout and an expanded array of merchandise.
Follett partners with more than 1,000 colleges and universities across North America, operating both online and retail campus stores. At Hopkins, it has introduced a model focused more heavily on apparel and school-branded merchandise — a direction that has drawn mixed reactions from students.
Barnes & Noble operated the Hopkins store since 2006. For many students, its presence served as a break from the struggle of academics.
In an email to The News-Letter, sophomore Gaayathri Nadarajah expressed disappointment at the store’s new emphasis on merchandise and the disappearance of books.
“I actually found out about the store changes quite abruptly — not until I got back on campus and saw that all of the lovely books had vanished!” she wrote. “Barnes & Noble was such a cute study spot adjacent to campus! Being able to take a break from class and browse amongst the shelves was such a stress reliever, and I’ll miss it greatly now that it’s gone!”
Nadarajah also voiced concern about how the change reflects the University’s relationship to the greater Baltimore community.
“While I understand the logic behind the decision, I’m still devastated that [Hopkins] is continuing to encroach on the surrounding community — literally consuming its neighbors.” Nadarajah wrote. “I truly hope this doesn’t set precedent for the future.”
Post-baccalaureate student Aram del Junco also weighed in on the change in an interview with The News-Letter. He noted his initial optimism with the change.
Del Junco explained that he first believed that Hopkins would be running the store independently, which he thought would allow the University to directly benefit from its profits before learning of their partnership with Follett. While he acknowledged that the arrangement could still offer financial benefits, he admitted uncertainty about the business side of the change.
“Initially, I thought that Hopkins was going to have their own branded store, and they were going to be running it, so they were going to be benefiting from all the profits and not splitting that with anyone [...] and I thought it was going to be a benefit,” he said. “Then I quickly found out that it was actually going to be run by another third party — and I’m not exactly sure what the business side of that looks like for Hopkins, but I hope that it’s kind of a similar boat where Hopkins will be getting more of the profit shared compared to Barnes & Noble.”
Sophomore Reshmita Nayudu emphasized how the change has affected the campus atmosphere.
“I think that Barnes & Noble offered a place for people to sit down, and now people are saying that they can’t even find their bookstore — and it kind of ruined the atmosphere, because now it kind of just turned into a merch store,” Nayudu said.
Nayudu added that the transition has complicated students’ access to course materials. Rather than being able to purchase books and supplies directly from the store, many have had to turn to outside vendors.
“As far as I know, materials for classes [...] [had to be ordered] on Amazon,” she said.
This struggle was also reflected in other students’ experiences, some of whom have found the transition disruptive to their academic routines. For students in courses that rely heavily on physical texts, the absence of readily available books has added hurdles to the semester’s start.
In an email to The News-Letter, sophomore Annie Gooty described the difficulties she has had in obtaining course materials under the new system.
“I need to order 5+ books for my humanities classes and the soonest one is arriving is 2 weeks from now. I’ve had to go to an outside source because it’s not in stock at the bookstore,” she wrote. “It’s also more expensive than I think it would be if we were just ordering it from the campus bookstore, because of shipping costs.”
Faculty members have also felt the impact, particularly those teaching courses that require specialized materials.
Steven Flynn, a professor who teaches the Introduction to Chemistry Laboratory course, explained that delays in obtaining lab notebooks and safety equipment disrupted the early weeks of class in an email to The News-Letter.
“Compared to last year (which was my first year as an instructor at JHU), students have been more delayed in receiving notebooks from the bookstore. A greater number of students have come to the first and second weeks of lab (third week of classes overall), still waiting for their notebooks to be delivered,” he wrote. “It is also possible, or even likely, that this is just because the bookstore didn't know what to stock ahead of time, and it won't be a problem in future semesters. They definitely did not have the goggles we needed in stock initially, but they appear to have resolved that fairly quickly (in time for lab to start).”
Flynn then drew attention to the communication gaps between the physical store and faculty, which left some students unable to purchase materials despite listings being available online.
“There was also some sort of communication issue with the physical bookstore. They reached out to me on 8/23 saying that students were looking to buy materials for the course but the bookstore couldn't help them because they didn't have the required course materials adopted yet,” Flynn wrote. “This was despite them having been set on the online store for at least a week, which was confirmed by the Follett representative who helped me set it up. I don't know how much of a delay this caused overall. “
Flynn added that navigating the Follett system has been especially difficult for lab courses, which rely on specialized equipment rather than traditional textbooks. He had difficulty making custom/new materials in the system, having to contact a representative for assistance.
Looking ahead, Flynn emphasized that his perspective on the transition remains tentative. While he found the Barnes & Noble system easier to use, he acknowledged that some of the challenges may simply reflect an adjustment period.
“I don't yet have an overall impression of the bookstore changes. I don't know what the driving factors were behind the change, and I only had one year of experience with the Barnes & Noble system. While I found the old system to be much easier for me, I also inherited the course materials list that had been refined by previous instructors,” he wrote. “The trouble with this new system might just be a normal adjustment period. Crucially, I don't have any information on whether the new bookstore saves money for students, which I think is very important in determining the overall positive or negative character of the change.”
