About The Campus Bookstore
The Campus Bookstore was established in 1909 by two engineering students who
were attempting to offer their peers more reasonably priced supplies than could
be found in downtown Kingston. Today, the Bookstore is still owned and operated
by students under the auspices of the Queen's University Engineering Society
Services Incorporated (QUESSI). We are a not-for-profit corporation who endeavors
to distribute required course material at the lowest possible price to students,
while operating a comprehensive University bookstore for the Queen's community.
The Bookstore fulfills its mission by utilising the input it receives from the
market it serves, and by applying the highest quality of management and service
at every level of the operation.
Technical Supplies, the original name of the Bookstore, soon found its accommodations
in Fleming Hall to be inadequate for its growing needs. In 1921, the Fifth Field
Company voted to donate its entire pay for one full year, to establishing a fund
for building a permanent home for Technical Supplies. Construction began in the
spring of 1951, and by the fall of that year, Technical Supplies was serving students
in Clark Hall, dedicated to Dean A. L. Clark, and costing a grand total of $94,546.99.
Half the building was set aside for a bookstore while the other half was to be used for
a student clubroom. The Bookstore area has steadily grown to become what you see today:
currently the largest bookstore between Montreal and Toronto. The clubroom area has
grown into Clark Hall Pub (the oldest pub on campus) and the EngSoc (the Engineering
Society offices) which encompasses many of the Engineering life activities including
the Golden Words. Outside of Clark Hall, you will find the permanent home of the four
Year Crests of the Current Faculty of Applied Science.
We fully understand that textbooks are expensive and as such, we generally discount
the books 7% below the publisher's suggested price. This policy means that the Campus
Bookstore offers some of the lowest textbook prices in all of Canada. The Bookstore
also promotes new and cost-effective methods of information dissemination such as
Custom CourseWare as a means to cut costs and increase efficiency.
In addition to books, we provide faculty, staff and students with many important
supplies and services. Occasionally, the Bookstore has sales and special events
such as HP™ days, Hurt Penguin Week and the famous Monster Sale. Look for details
in the Queen's Journal, Golden Words, and of course, on our homepage
of this site. (You may also register to receive automatic e-mailings of specials
and sales as well).
We hope that you will take advantage of all the services we offer, and continue in
a Queen's tradition that has endured since the class of '13!