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PSA -- Don't buy your Griz Gear at the M Store or Scheels

MStore Employee here. The same company who owns the non-profit bookstore at MSU owns our store. Neither one of our stores are affiliated with the university meaning that we do not give any money to the university. Any money we make goes straight back into the MStore to keep the business sustainable. As for scheels, I am not sure.

Believe what you want. As for personal opinion I can not convince you to understand the truth. I however can explain to you that our small business runs just as any other in that any money/profit we make only goes directly back into paying rent at our store location and buying product to then sell. The only difference is we aren’t affiliated with the university meaning we don’t pay the school all of our profit. It is just as any other merch store you would find in any other college town. We pay for the rights for logos and select the yearly merch to sell.
As an M Store employee, you have access to all the stores financials and can attest that not a single dime of income is used to subsidize the cost of books purchased by students attending the state college of agriculture?
 
MStore Employee here. The same company who owns the non-profit bookstore at MSU owns our store. Neither one of our stores are affiliated with the university meaning that we do not give any money to the university. Any money we make goes straight back into the MStore to keep the business sustainable. As for scheels, I am not sure.
What is the the company that owns both, and who owns them?
 

AFAIK, the M Store does not sell ”course materials”, so I question who’s costs Chad claims to be lowering🤔
 

AFAIK, the M Store does not sell ”course materials”, so I question who’s costs Chad claims to be lowering🤔
The costs are only lowered for MSU as he rises the price of merchandise and lowers the price of textbooks. As for us we just run as a regular merchandise store. They are two separate businesses.
 
The costs are only lowered for MSU as he rises the price of merchandise and lowers the price of textbooks. As for us we just run as a regular merchandise store. They are two separate businesses.
He has hoped to sell textbooks at one point. But as we are not the on campus store it has not worked out.
 
As an M Store employee, you have access to all the stores financials and can attest that not a single dime of income is used to subsidize the cost of books purchased by students attending the state college of agriculture?
1. "Schreier said the mission of the bookstore has always been to keep book prices as low as possible. Profit from the store’s merchandise sales goes to lower the cost of textbooks, which are at least 10% lower than national retail prices and up to 20% less expensive than other university bookstores, he said.

In addition to continuing to offer used books and rental options, the store has started offering more textbooks through an “inclusive access” model that delivers materials digitally to students during a course. If a professor chooses to use inclusive access, students in the course have 15 days to view the text and decide if they want to pay an access fee, which is far lower than the retail or print prices of the same book.

Schreier explained the inclusive access model is different than simply renting a digital textbook because the bookstore can negotiate lower rates based on student enrollment in a course, compared to just an individual going out and buying their own ebook. That means publishers essentially offer bulk discounts for textbooks. Additionally, if textbooks in inclusive access are OER, that means they are free for students.

The inclusive access model has grown each year, Schreier said. Between spring 2023 to 2025, MSU saw a 67% increase in students enrolling in inclusive access and a 156% increase in the number of courses offering their books through it. The inclusive access platform saw around 20,000 enrollments last spring — which is higher than MSU’s headcount — indicating students are using it for multiple classes. Close to 60% of textbook options submitted by MSU faculty to the bookstore are part of the inclusive access program, he said.

The result is that MSU students have saved millions on textbooks. In the 2024-2025 academic year alone, inclusive access saved students $2.7 million compared to traditional new print textbooks, he said.

MSU is also working to launch a tool where, at the point of registration, students will be able to see which classes offer a free or low-cost textbook, defined as under $40. That way, students can see before registering for a class whether they can afford the book.”


2. "OBERLIN, OHIO (March 11, 2019)Chad M. Schreier, MBA, CCR , chief executive officer of the MSU Bookstore Inc., Montana State University, Bozeman, was installed as president of the board of trustees of the National Association of College Stores (NACS) during CAMEX 2019, NACS’ annual convention and trade show for the nation’s campus store industry.

Schreier has a master of business administration and a bachelor of arts degree from Lebanon Valley College. He earned the Certified Collegiate Retailer designation, which is a professional credential awarded by NACS.

He was named CEO of the MSU Bookstore, Inc. in Bozeman, in 2016. Previously he served as campus store director at MSU Bookstore, Inc., Montana State University, Billings and as college store director at Lebanon Valley College Store, Annville, PA.”

 
So, the goal of reducing the cost of course materials for UM students has not been realized at all, and the M Store is a for-profit entity owned by a company that does, indeed, lower the cost of course materials for MSU students. Is that correct?
If I recall correctly, Montana's Griz gear and logo licensing revenue goes to the Bookstore, not to the AD. This should reduce student bookstore costs.
 
Wow... didn't realize. Must have closed after last football season...surprising given how long they had been in Missoula. Guessing the pressure from Scheels opening was too much to compete with...
I actually looked them up because it's been a while since I looked at them and they have closed a lot of stores and showing locations remaining in Bozeman, Billings, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Kalispell and Gillette. A cousin of mine was actually one of the original owners of these and I don't know him really well, there is quite a gap in our ages, and they grew up in Broadus, about as opposite side of Montana from Kalispell as you can get. I thought his son was taking over, he had played baseball for a while, and I last talked with him once in Seattle when he was the Mariners bullpen catcher, but not about the store.
If the headquarters has moved to bozo, that would indicate to me that some corporate holding has it that flies in for skiing and golf.
If you ever went to a bar in Seattle near the Kingdome called Swannies (they had a comedy club in the basement as well called the Comedy Underground) and saw the Griz and cat helmets in there, Swannie was actually a friend of my cousin and that's where he got the helmets from.
 
I don't know how many people caught this tidbit in another thread, but The M Store is owned by the MSU Bookstore. Every dollar spent there not only leaves Missoula, but goes to fund the rivals. Scheels gave a $5,000,000 to the Bison to build their basketball stadium.

I'm not saying that either is evil or anything, but just a PSA that Griz gear money is going to rival teams. I'll be going with The University Bookstore or UpTop in the future.
I’m gonna go buy something from there just because you told me not to
 
You guys are just learning this? I learned this on egriz like 5 years ago.

Also, having been to a couple griz games the last year, I can tell you that Scheels does no advertising sponsorship $ to MSU. You all have eyes and I don't have to tell you how many they do for ads at griz games. I love scheels as a store so now I begrudgingly buy stuff there because of all of this....
 
You guys are just learning this? I learned this on egriz like 5 years ago.

Also, having been to a couple griz games the last year, I can tell you that Scheels does no advertising sponsorship $ to MSU. You all have eyes and I don't have to tell you how many they do for ads at griz games. I love scheels as a store so now I begrudgingly buy stuff there because of all of this....
5 years ago hmmm??? That's interesting because the M store wasn't sold until 2021.

Edited to add: Scheels' corporate HQ is based in Fargo, ND. They are huge boosters of the NDSU Bison. The money that is sucked out of Missoula, Great Falls, and Billings to Fargo is used to support the Bison's athletic facility upgrades and NIL.


 
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