University Bookstore, which has been operating under that name and serving as an essential academic provider for MU students since 1899, announced its rebranding as The Mizzou Store last week. The name change, as its website reports, reflects its promise “to inspire Tigers and support Mizzou traditions through every stage of life’s journey.”
We’re not completely sure how the 114-year-old name “University Bookstore” was unable to support this promise. But in our eyes, the change also reflects how the store has shifted over the years from a supplier of academic materials to a supplier of memorabilia and trinkets — selling “the Mizzou experience” captured in a sweatshirt or a shot glass. To get to the actual textbooks today, one must walk to the basement, past displays of Clinique makeup, dorm decor, Apple gadgets and all the Mizzou-branded apparel one could ever desire. The new name really does fit the store better; it’s a gift shop first and a textbook supplier second.
In recent years, the athletic brand of the school — Mizzou — has been intensified and expanded. From the construction of what was eventually named Mizzou Arena to the high-profile move to the Southeastern Conference and the subsequent redesign of athletic graphics, the nickname “Mizzou” has been embraced by the university to become its brand in and beyond athletics.
It’s worth understanding that branding and marketing Mizzou can and does play a positive role for MU — promoting the university as vibrant and relevant, whether it be just in athletics or as a whole institution, to prospective students as well as alumni and friends of MU. The donation campaign “For All We Call Mizzou,” which ran from 2000 to 2008, netted more than $1 billion, vastly improving the resources available for the university to modernize and expand. Recently, the One Mizzou campaign has helped serve as a catalyst for diversity conversation and education on campus. It was also what the chancellor used to unite Missouri after the 2011 tornado in Joplin. The Mizzou Store, in fact, takes its name and logo from a store opened in Chesterfield last year — selling apparel as well as school pride to area alumni, family, fans and future Tigers.
Clearly, the Mizzou brand has been beneficial for MU, but we must be careful to ensure that these benefits go to students and the university’s academic, research and extension missions. There is nothing wrong with selling MU apparel and other non-academic supplies, nor with establishing and promoting a brand for the university. But there is a problem when these activities diminish normal academic functions, and we question whether this rebranding of our bookstore symbolizes a larger shift in MU’s priorities.
