In just a few short weeks semester one will begin and with that comes the purchasing of textbooks. Keighley Bradford gives you all the details you need now that beloved textbook provider The Coop has entered administration. 

Remember the early campus days where you and your friends would wander down past the bakehouse after the first lecture of the semester?

You’d be fighting a swarm of mozzies to get through the doors of The Coop before frantically scurrying to find and secure your textbooks before they ran out of stock. As you’d leave the friendly staff members would try and talk you into investing into a Lifetime Membership card.

That was only three years ago, and while those Lifetime Membership cards are yours forever, they’re basically useless now.

The Coop went into administration at the end of 2019 and was recently acquired by online retailer Booktopia. This acquisition means that all Coop stores will be closing, with existing campus stores set to remain open for a limited time once the university semester commences.

Booktopia encourages students to visit the stores as there will be a clearance sale on the current stock remaining. In regard to our all-time fave feature of the Coop, Booktopia is also offering a textbook finder on their website – however, unfortunately, online and trimester students may have difficulty finding their courses as they are no an option within their system.

The acquisition does offer some good news for students though – Booktopia prides itself on having an on-average 10% cheaper sale price on their stock, plus, as a uni student, you can also score an extra 6-10% off thanks to Student Edge and UniDays!

So, say goodbye to another physical bookstore and prepare to go bargain hunting if that offer doesn’t satisfy your needs. If you love supporting independent bookstores, go check out the few remaining ones, like MacLeans and Q’s Bookshop on Beaumont, and Cooks Hill Books on Darby. They might not have it, but it’s worth a look to keep these little businesses alive.

You can also visit the chain stores, like Dymocks, QBD and Harry Hartog. Best bet is that they won’t have what you need in-store, but they can order it in. Otherwise, head online and scour these retailers and more for the best deal.

You can find more information about the administration and acquisition here.

Feature Image: Christina Morillo via Pexels.com, no changes made