Beat the Bookstore Opens 25th Store in Three Years.

Bowling Green Offers Latest Refuge for Students Seeking Escape from Textbook Price Gouging

SALT LAKE CITY & BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Beat The Bookstore founding owners Mike Winward and David Monk announced today the opening of the company's 25th franchise operation in Bowling Green, Ohio, home of Bowling Green State University (BGSU) with a student population of approximately 21,000. The announcement, made from national headquarters in Salt Lake City, was accompanied by congratulations for franchisees Angie and Steve Smith and Steve Russell who will open the store at 902 East Wooster Street, Thursday, April 26, 2007.

The Ohio store will follow the same business model of the original Beat The Bookstore, one which has proven so successful for the other franchisees around the country. Beat The Bookstore's concept is centered on catering to students. The textbook stores sell for less, buy back for more, and consistently provide uncommon - and exceptional - customer service.

"All we do is textbooks," commented Monk. "So our goal is to do textbooks better than anyone else." Beat The Bookstores do not carry candy, sweatshirts, glassware, decorative spoons, pennants, bumper stickers or any of the other trinkets and apparel that contribute to high inventory and overhead.

Based on the premise that university-owned bookstores - with their monopoly on college textbook sales - were gouging students, Winward and Monk developed a concept and proprietary software technology (patents pending) to take on the goliath multi-billion dollar college textbook industry (estimates range from $6 to $7.7 billion). College textbook prices in the past two decades have risen a phenomenal 238%, while the price of consumer goods has risen only 51%. According to a National Association of College Stores study, U.S. students paid an average of $822 for books and supplies during 2004-2005, compared to $619 in 1999-2000, an increase of 33% in just five years.

"We've had students tell us they paid a minimum of $900 a semester for books bought through the university bookstores," noted Winward. "But most appalling are the comments from kids who have gotten less than $15 in resale for textbooks that originally cost them $125 and more."

The overwhelming success of the first and second Beat The Bookstores in Utah led to nationwide franchising and expansion more than three years ago. In addition to the Bowling Green location, Beat The Bookstores are also located in Athens, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Boca Raton, Florida; Boulder, Colorado; Greenville, North Carolina; Houston, Texas (in process); Iowa City, Iowa; Knoxville, Tennessee; Las Vegas, Nevada; Lawrence, Kansas; Logan, Utah; Miami, Florida; Moscow, Idaho; Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Norman, Oklahoma; Ogden, Utah; Orem, Utah; Pomona, California; Salt Lake City, Utah (two locations); San Jose, California; Santa Barbara, California; St. Louis, Missouri; and Tucson, Arizona.