A graduate marketing research class will evaluate the Holmes Student Center Bookstore in an attempt to increase sales.

Gary Clark, marketing assistant professor, said the bookstore “hired” his marketing research class and provided them with a budget for working expenses.

Stacey Krick, graduate assistant and public relations director for the class, said they received about $650 for working expenses. The expenses allow for phone calling and photocopying needs, she said.

Stan Shedaker, bookstore manager, said he read about the marketing course and their work in advising other local businesses.

He said he approached the class with the idea of helping the bookstore.

Clark said, “The goal of the bookstore project is to benefit the bookstore by providing market research which will in turn benefit the students.”

He said any profit the marketing class will help the bookstore earn will help students because the store’s profits go into a “general revenue bond” fund which is supported, in part, by student fees.

“The more money the bookstore makes, the less money that will be needed from the students,” he said.

Shedaker said the bookstore is expecting such projects as “phantom shopping,”in which students of the marketing research class will pose as shoppers and evaluate the overall service and prices at the bookstore.

Krick said the class also is planning to send out a survey in the next few weeks to get students’ opinions on the bookstore and its problems.

Krick said the class will advise the bookstore on problems such as low sales, low bookstore traffic and lack of knowledge people have on its services and products.

The research project is similar to careers in marketing consulting, Krick said. There are about 14 people in the class.

Shedaker said, “I believe the bookstore is an extension of the classroom.”

He said the bookstore believes in individual class projects and participating in internships and positions available through cooperative education.

Clark said he has been structuring his class around actual market research since he began teaching the class at NIU in 1984.

He said they have tackled projects in the past which have included the Wasco West Restaurant, 1948 DeKalb Ave.

The class realized the problem of “lack of awareness” among NIU students and helped them to gain recognition, he said.

Clark said his marketing class will be getting “hands-on” experience by actually doing market research for the bookstore.

At the end of the semester, the bookstore will receive a written report concerning the results, Clark said.