How do college store margins compare to average retail margins?
• Its important to remember that college stores are not traditional retailers. College stores are unique in that they do not select the bulk of their inventory (textbooks). Also, because college stores are service driven, they attempt to provide the lowest possible prices for students as opposed to trying to make the largest profit. • The Annual Benchmark Report for Retail Trade and Food Services: January 1992 through March 2003, by the US Census Bureau, US Department of Commerce, April 2003, [Table 7, page 41] estimated annual gross margin as a percentage of sales by kinds of retail business range from 25.0% to 42.9%.
