This follows the university seeking tenders for an “experienced retailer” to operate an integrated UCD bookshop and College Collection merchandise unit for a four-year-and-11-month period.
The bookshop operator will be located at a flagship two-floor space in the college’s James Joyce Library and provide a seamless online platform, a single social media presence and a network of seasonal/event pop-ups across the Belfield campus.
The tender documentation provides an insight into the business performance of the existing bookshop business at the UCD campus.
Figures provided show that during the 2024/25 academic year, the UCD book business recorded net sales of €1.09m, excluding Vat, with sales peaking at the start of the academic term. Net sales across September and October totalled €390,043 which represent 35.5pc for the year.
The figures show that bookshop net sales totalled €503,454 while net sales from the UCD College Collection totalled €592,571. The tender states that the new concession will replace the current pilot arrangement whereby books and merchandise have been operated by the same supplier but treated as separate activities.
The tender further states that from this year, the university requires these two activities to be formally merged into a single, coherent retail concept that is commercially ambitious, digitally native, academically supportive, community-engaged and fully aligned with the Breaking Boundaries strategy to 2030 and UCD’s position as Ireland’s highest-ranked university for sustainability.
It states that the successful tenderer will be expected to treat the retail space not only as a traditional campus convenience space, but as UCD’s primary brand ambassador on campus – a place that sells books and merchandise driving revenue while also “building belonging and identity, community engagement, and visibly demonstrating UCD’s values every day at the heart of the UCD community”.
Underlining the scale of UCD, the tender confirms that UCD has a turnover of €718m and 39,522 students. The university’s academic staff number 2,015 while the approximate number of library facility visits each year is 1.9 million. The deadline for tenders is March 11.
On February 5, UCD will host a bidders’ briefing as well as a site visit to the bookshop.
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