Campus Bookstore

75th Anniversary of the Campus Bookstore, 1984

The Campus Bookstore was originally established in 1909 as the "Technical Supplies Store" by two engineering students who wanted to provide inexpensive drafting supplies and textbooks for Engineering students.

Technical Supplies occupied many different places on campus: at various times the store was located in Fleming Hall, Theological Hall, the Gun Shed, and the Old Mill.

In 1929, the Engineering Society appointed its first professional manager; in 1963, the bookstore was incorporated as a non-profit corporation; in 1973, Technical Supplies changed its name officially to the Campus Bookstore.

The Bookstore is still owned and operated by students under the auspices of the Queen's University Engineering Society Services Incorporated (QUESSI), a not-for-profit corporation that endeavors to distribute required course material at the lowest possible price to students while operating a comprehensive university bookstore for the whole Queen's community. A majority of the board members of QUESSI must be undergraduate Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science students. The Senate bookstore committee provides a channel of communication between faculty and students and the QUESSI board.

Today, the bookstore keeps a stock of all required textbooks for all courses offered by the university, along with a wide range of general interest and reference books, other academic supplies, and gift items. Most of its books are offered at a discount below list price. In 2000, the bookstore launched an online textbook review service, in which students around the world offer input on texts being used for courses.

The bookstore is located in Clark Hall.

Learn more about the Campus Bookstore...