Kenyon Bookstore

Named "the best campus bookstore in the country" by Rolling Stone, the Kenyon Bookstore is nearly a student center in itself. Located in Farr Hall, in the center of the village, the College's bookstore is a coffee shop, a copy center, a minimarket, a newsstand, and a favorite place for studying and just hanging out.

The store does stock books, of course, both texts and an abundance of fiction and nonfiction trade titles. Bestsellers, classics, and academic titles share space with used books and remainders on every conceivable subject. The friendly staff stands ready to order any title in print, and the magazine selection, which has won awards for its breadth, can keep an unwary passerby riveted for hours.

In addition, the bookstore overflows with art supplies, clothing, glassware, stationery, and items for everyday needs. Students depend heavily on its copiers and fax machines, often in combination with a late-night snack or quick breakfast before class (the store has extended hours seven days a week). For many, the store's comfortable sofas and reading tables make it, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, "a second living room," where they can meet friends, read a magazine, or work on a term paper all day "without once getting a cold stare from an employee."

Kenyon Bookstore Fast Facts
Kenyon Bookstore: In Our Own Words
Offices and Departments in the Bookstore

Kenyon Bookstore Fast Facts

Historical Notes: Kenyon's founder, Philander Chase, began raising money for a college bookstore in 1825, one year after the College came into existence, so students would not have to "send hither and thither for a book and perhaps be obliged after all to send to the East before he can be accommodated ... We must have a book store belonging to the Institution" (from a letter written by Chase to his brother). He planned that bookstore profits would fund scholarships, a provision which remains in effect today.

The first bookstore opened in 1829, housed in a log cabin. After a number of intervening moves, it took up residence in Farr Hall in 1968.

Historically, the bookstore has been most successful during those eras in which it has sold a broad, if not bewildering, range of merchandise. In the 1860s, for example, a former store manager, one Mr. Putnam, received a letter praising the store's astonishing variety of wares, everything from "squirrel traps to gingham dresses."

Bookstore trivia
Number of books: 30,000 titles
Number of CDs: 400 titles
Number of magazines: 600 titles
Number of photocopiers: 4
Number of ice cream flavors: 32
Number of stuffed animals: 500
Number of different T-shirt logos: 20
Number of cups of coffee sold per day: 1,000
Number of visits per day, on average, per student: 7

Kenyon Bookstore: In Our Own Words

"I go to the bookstore several times a day to get my newspaper, buy a snack, study. The store has great couches and tables for studying."
--Carolyn Wendler, math major

Offices and Departments in the Bookstore