CSC Update: AUGUST 2023
CSC Update is a regular communication from Campus Stores Canada to keep members informed of what is happening in the industry and what their national industry association is working on.
IN THIS ISSUE:
once more unto the breach
We’ve been prepping for it all summer long and now fall rush is approaching on the horizon. Join your fellow CSC members as we get ready together! This is your opportunity to hop on a call and talk about what is new, what’s working, get last minute tips and tricks and send good wishes to all your CSC colleagues. The call is at noon Eastern time on August 24th using Google Meet.
We want to hear from you!
But that’s not all! We want to talk you through all the exciting things that CSC has planned this year as well. We’ll give more details about our monthly call schedule, the upcoming plans for 2023-2024, and discuss the year ahead.
Meeting Agenda
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This is our chance to chat, share, and support one another as we get ready for our return to campus. We’re eager to hear what is going on in your campus.
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Hear all about the plan for the year ahead. We’ll detail the plans for 2023-2024 and beyond!
If you have other things you would like to discuss about our calls, CSC, or other things in general please reach out to Greg McPherson. If you are having difficulty joining the call please reach out to google@campusstores.ca
Membership rates 2023-2024
CSC is changing your membership rates for 2023-2024. The changes reflect the increasing amount of support that CSC is bringing to all our members, combined with increases in costs across the board. The Board has spent considerable thought on the increases. Insuring that they are fair, equitable, and produce minimal distruption in your store’s operation.
Five categories
Since CSC’s inception we have always segmented our members by the number of combined full-time equivalent undergraduates and graduate students in your institutions. Until this year we have used three categories. After much deliberation we have increased to five categories. This change Allows us to limit the cost increases for the majority of our members. It also better reflects the student populations of our institutions whether it is fewer than 800 or more than 60,000.
The New Rates
| 2023-2024 Cost | Amount Increase | |
|---|---|---|
| X-Small | $400 | $50 |
| Small | $500 | $150 |
| Medium | $700 | $150 |
| Large | $850 | $100 |
| X-Large | $950 | $200 |
Flexibility
This year we’re also offering you even more flexibility with your membership. Add your conference registration into your membership and we’ll bill you all at once. When you get your membership renewal reminder from me just send me back and email with any additional conference registrations you need added!
Update your FTE count
It is important for us to have an accurate count of your combined full-time undergraduate and graduate students. If we do not have an updated FTE count from you through the CSC Members Survey you will have received a messages from Steve Thomas (google@campusstores.ca). Please let either he or I know your count as soon as possible to make sure you are billed appropriately.
Campus Stores Conference 2024
We are extremely excited about the upcoming conference in Montreal. You can get all the details here. Registration for CSC Members is only $249! We’re very happy to have 16 vendors already signed up for the conference and we’re looking for many more. If can think of a vendor that would like to work with more than 70 institutions across Canada we would like to meet them. Send an introductory email and include me (greg@campusstores.ca) on the email. We want to work to highlight great partners from across Canada and the trade show is our best way!
Course materials education
The Course Materials Education committee met this summer and drilled down on how to make the most of our time together in Montreal. We have been coming up with a lot of sessions. The front runners are “Industry terms: What do those letters mean?”; “Changing technologies and proactive planning”; and “Speed dating on industry topics with experts.” We will admit that last title might be a tad long. If you think you can help us out we would love to have you on board!
General Merchandise Education
How do we do fit all our ideas in with only enough time for two education sessions? We make the conference longer! The General Merchandise committee got together and decided that the conference cannot be contained! At the conference we’re going to work on Retail Math with a yet to be announced industry leader and Strategies for Growth as a round table discussion. But PRIOR to the conference we’re inviting all registered delegates to THREE ADDITIONAL SESSIONS: Fashion Forecasts for 2024, Hot Products, and Preparing to Buy at the Show. All of these sessions are free addons! We’ll be announcing those dates very soon.
Of course many hands make light work and we would love to have you on the general merchandise committee with us. If you’re up for it you can let Shannon Blackadder know!
So much more still coming
There are only 6 months until the conference kicks off and there is so much more still to come. Social events, campus store tours, and sponsored events to name a few. If you have questions, suggestions, or things you would like to see and do while we in Montreal (poutine and smoked meat are already taken care of) we would love to hear from you!
Member and Industry News
This section of our CSC Update is a place where we can share your news. Share with us information including who is retiring from your store, who is new to your store, what is happening in the industry, share an interesting article you think other members should see. Please email greg@campusstores.ca information you would like highlighted in our next CSC Update.
News for this month!
New Positions
Congratulations to Melanie Oberg the new Acting Retail Services Manager at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Recent Posts in Member Space
Francois Beliveau, Hillary Risi, Katherine Wright and Sean Bell have been discussing the ongoing situation with MBS and Barnes & Noble Education. You can catch up on the discussion here. (Warning you’ll need to be logged in)
Heather McNutt-Loiselle of Georgian College is looking for users of PrismMobile or an alternative to PrismRBS. If you have any experience you can share it with her at Heather.McNuttLoiselle@georgiancollege.ca.
Kévin Dumaisnil wondered if anyone has experience with Shiptime. If you have experience to share you can email him at textmgr@uvic.ca.
Announcements
Algonquin College is hiring a general merchandise buyer and brand officer. Application for the position closes on August 7.
Back to school is unfortunately back to fraud for some. Be on the lookout for emails from suspicious emails and never click on anything unless you are sure. There have been reports from the members about fraudulent emails circulating and there is no way to “un-click” that link.
Executive Director’s Report
Update Your Contact Information with CSC
There have been a lot of changes within our industry in the past three years, particularly with the people who work in it. We need to update the contacts we have listed for your store. Please check your store's profile in Member Space and make sure the contacts you have listed under your store are correct. Email google@campusstores.ca if you can’t find your store’s profile and you want CSC to email you a list of your store contacts.
If you are a store manager or director overseeing your store, please email greg@campusstores.ca a list of store contacts who should have access to CSC’s Member Space.
If you don’t have access to Member Space, please email greg@campusstores.ca for assistance.
Members Survey Data Published
Everyone who participated in our first members survey has gotten the full set of data returned back. While we are happy to have this information to share we still want to do more with it. While we look at how to tweak this program for the year ahead we could definitely use some additional help with analysis. If you are interested in diving deep into numbers, crunching the facts from the figures, we would love to get your help. Get in contact with me if you have a nose for the numerical.
NOMINATIONS OPEN IN SEPTEMBER
CSC is opening nominations for the Board of Directors in September. This year there are 6 positions that will be up for election. Joining the Board places you at the leadership of the Canadian campus retail industry. It gives you the ability to help mold the direction for CSC and all its members. If you’re interested in joining the Board of Directors you can get in contact with me.
Website/Member Space review underway
Work is underway on both the CSC website and Member Space. As the industry continues to change we want to make sure that you are better informed, can reach out to your peers, and can get support more easily. With that in mind CSC is looking at the role of Member Space and how it could be best used or if we need it at all. At the same time initial design work is underway for a refreshed CSC website. If you have strong opinions, thoughts on tools, or any other ideas about how we can improve the process of getting critical information to you, please feel free to reach out!
Happy to Help!
If you have any questions, need support, or are interested in becoming more involved with CSC, you can email me at greg@campusstores.ca or call me at 1 (888) 288-4044.