Let’s face it — the price of a book often isn’t cheap. After the royalties that are paid to the author and production, some titles can leave students in the red.

Borders Books and Music, 2520 Sycamore Road, has found a way to combat that problem.

Students, faculty and staff of both NIU and Kishwaukee College that present a valid student ID card are eligible for a 20 percent discount on the majority of items in the store.

“We’re starting to publicize it slowly, but surely,” said John Podulka, general manager of Borders. “We really started talking it up here about the time students came back to school this year.”

The promotion, which is has become widely advertised throughout the store, comes just in time for the opening of Barnes & Noble, 2439 Sycamore Road, just across the street from Borders.

Items such as DVDs, magazines and newspapers are items Borders included on the discount because of their low profit margin. Other items not included are items marked “net” on the Borders price sticker, special order merchandise, electronic gift cards, paper gift certificates and shipping charges. Electronic merchandise, such as CD players, will be given a 10 percent discount. And items already on sale with a bigger discount will not be given the 20 percent discount. Also, the discount cannot be combined with any other discount.

Podulka said that it’s obvious what kind of business NIU brings to the neighborhood.

“It’s become increasingly evident as the months have gone by what a significant amount of customers are university based,” Podulka said. “Many of our members are NIU members themselves.”

While 20 percent may not be much, it is still a savings off the regular price.

“The key to making this work is for people to realize there’s an advantage there,” Podulka said. “Clearly in a town this big, the university is a huge part of the community in so many ways.”

Podulka said that he has noticed more people taking advantage of the discount as the days go on.

“When fall term started again, we did notice the increase in business,” Podulka said. “I’d say as we were rolling this out slowly, we probably ended up with 15 to 20 people a day taking advantage [of the discount]. Word is starting to get out, but we want to make sure everyone knows.”

Podulka said after consulting his managers, they came to the conclusion that the discount offered would be best for both parties concerned.

“I had heard that our store in Evanston was doing something similar for students at Northwestern [University],” he said. “It will make some stuff more affordable. Budgets are tight. This is just our way to make the money go a little further.”

Richard Owens, manager of the newly opened Barnes & Noble, said that while his store doesn’t offer the same discount, it does offer its customers a wide variety of items and a membership discount program.

“We have things that you like can’t find anywhere else,” Owens said. “Ninety percent of the things we carry in [our journal department] are exclusive to Barnes & Noble.”

While Owens says that the discount offered might attract some students, Barnes & Noble’s overall discounted prices may come out better for readers in the long run.

“That’s something that they’re doing just in this market right now. We do analyze our discount programs regularly,” he said. “We do discount more books than any other seller. We have more than 200,000 items in our store.”

Junior psychology major Chad Brownfield said that while he has no preference, learning about Borders’ discount would win him over.

“I like them both, actually,” said Brownfield. “I’d go there then, it’s more off. It’s cheaper.”

While Podulka said that the opening of Barnes & Noble may have been considered when planning to offer the discount, competition between the two stores is expected.

“It was probably a factor, sure,” Podulka said.”I would imagine that many of our customers will be motivated to step over there and see what’s going on.”

Some customers aren’t swayed by Borders’ discount offer.

“Either [store] is fine,” said junior communication major Cassie Pham. “Most of the time I don’t get anything, I just look.”

Owens isn’t worried about the competition.

“We’ll do a great business. DeKalb is a growing market,” he said. “The demographics show that the area can support two major bookstores. In thinking about the DeKalb market, we carefully studied it before we go into it.”

Senior art major Shandi Jackson said she wouldn’t go to Borders because she isn’t familiar with it.

“I would go to Barnes & Noble,” Jackson said. “I’m more familiar [with it]. I just don’t like [Borders]. There are just not enough places to sit and read.”

Varied opinions like those will keep the competition between the two stores healthy, said Podulka.

“What the dollar impact and business will be I have no idea. There is a significant new player in the market here, he said. “Northern is a very special place in the community and this is a way we can say ‘thanks.’ We’ve been a very successful store since we’ve been here and we plan to continue to be successful. It’s competition, it’s what makes the world goes round.”