Aida’s Unversity Bookstore: Come for the books, stay for the parking spaces

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

There’s a routine most Cal State Long Beach students go through at the start of each new semester: they pray the classes they need are available (and that CSULB’s online registration system won’t crash this semester); begin waking up at 5 a.m. to find parking within two miles of their classes; and, most importantly, pay a visit to Aida’s University Bookstore. Aida’s is the off-campus, independently-owned alternative to the massive on-campus University Bookstore. The store sells textbooks, as well as a small selection of Beach Pride products (Long Beach’s second-favorite kind of pride!), most of it at discounted prices. Mugs and shorts are a few bucks cheaper at Aida’s, and you can get pens, pencils, notebooks, and the other usual back-to-school fare, like Scantrons and backpacks.

Of course, Aida’s is primarily a bookstore, one frequented by most students because of their discounted rates and . . . well, really just the discounted prices. As textbook prices soar (many students spend $500 every semester on books), more and more people are turning away from traditional textbook sources and turning to eBay, Half.com, and Amazon. But since some students don’t get locked into their schedule until the week classes start, they often don’t have time to wait for shipping. With neither the money to afford full-priced textbooks nor the time to wait for the Internets to ship their books, they turn to discount stores like Aida’s.

Manager Gordon Hodnett explains that the reason Aida’s is cheaper is simple: their overhead is lower. “We have less employees, there’s less layers of people here,” he says. I usually found, on average, that new textbooks were five to 10 bucks cheaper at Aida’s than on campus, but it’s the prices of the used books that ends up saving students big money. CSULB’s bookstore usually doesn’t offer a very steep discount for a used book—even if it’s completely marked up and hard to use. A random calculus book I pulled off the shelf at both stores ranged from $80 (used) to $120 (new) used at Aida’s, but on campus was $100 (used) and $130 (new).

Additionally, parking at Aida’s is of course much, much better (in that there are spaces available), which would probably make Aida’s worth a trip even if they charged more for their books. But generally, it’s a way to get your books with less hassle: the lines at Aida’s never back up to the cattle-chute quality of the campus store, and the staff are relaxed and friendly. It’s also easier to find books here: the tags that mark the required textbooks for each class have the professor’s name on them, which makes it easier for confused freshman to figure out which section of CHEM 100 they’re in. The selection isn’t perfect, but it’s close: you shouldn’t have any problem grabbing a basic GE textbook, and they carry most of the upper-division stuff as well.

Aida’s location within a mile of campus is convenient, to be sure, but don’t grow too attached to the address at the bottom of this page. Come November, after the fall rush is over, Aida’s is leaving the building they’ve inhabited since they opened five years ago and relocating a few blocks away on Los Coyotes, by the traffic circle (next to Famima!!). There, they’ll expand their business to serve LBCC students, too, a student body that hasn’t had a brick-and-mortar alternative to their on-campus Viking Bookstores for over a year.

Of course, you can’t abandon campus entirely: if you’re looking for CSULB merchandise, there’s no wider selection than the campus bookstore, which also offers student discounts on laptops and iPods and has a decent selection of non-textbook books. Aida’s hours are inferior, too: they’re never open past 6 (and are closed on Sundays), while the campus bookstore stays open till 9:30 p.m. during the first week of classes, so you can stop and get books late at night on your way back to your car—parked somewhere near the Pike.

AIDA’S UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE 2119 N BELLFLOWER BLVD | LONG BEACH 90815 | 562.986.9178

Tags: aid's univeristy bookstore, cal state long beach, textbooks