Via Dawson College 

Jacqueline Graif
Editor-in-Chief 

In November of last year, Dawson’s former Director General, Diane Gauvin, announced that the school’s bookstore would be closing its doors permanently. 

Not long after this announcement, a petition spearheaded by the Dawson Student Union was released on Instagram, in hopes to save the bookstore. The DSU’s post made on November 26th included a QR code to sign the petition, a summary of the announcement made by Gauvin, and all the effects of the closure. 1,504 students signed this agreement to keep the bookstore open, and these numbers were turned over to the Senate and Dawson Board. 

Students were shocked and upset at the news. Instagram user @matthewplourde wrote, “absolutely unacceptable, what??” Another user @sapaincapachacuti said, “and with a private company, now everything will be more expensive. amaaaazing :/.”

Some of the effects of the closure of the bookstore included the loss of jobs, limitation on secondhand alternatives, added commute time, students being redirected to a private company to purchase books, and the discontinuation of Dawson merchandise. 

In an interview with the DSU’s Vice-President Operations and Services, Emilia Alina Tobar-Icaza, she explained that

“the bookstore was not gathering enough income to remain in operation and was not gaining any additional profits for the college.”

Dawson, essentially, could no longer afford to keep it afloat, and ultimately decided to shut it down. 

When the Dawson bookstore was in operation, books were offered at the lowest price possible, keeping it an affordable entity for students. The bookstore was also conveniently placed near the metro entrance, letting students pick up books and supplies on their way to class. 

The current solution set in place by the Dawson Administration is to send students to the Concordia University bookstore, which is located at Guy-Concordia metro station. However, there are many limitations to this solution. There are augmented wait times because of the volume of students from both schools, books being out-of-stock, higher prices, an added commute time, and persistent inconvenience. 

The DSU explains that it has been receiving a high volume of complaints from students about the current bookstore, and the college has been made aware of student dissatisfaction. The college, in essence, had not been expecting a level of discontentment this high and is monitoring the situation. 

Dawson had released a mandatory consultation form on Omnivox earlier in the Winter 2026 semester to ask students’ opinion on the current bookstore situation. While Maxwell Jones, Director of Student Services, says the college is “interested to hear what the students think,” the college does not have active plans to reinstate an on-site bookstore at Dawson. 

The DSU had previously planned to propose a not-for-profit co-operative bookstore, similar to the one that closed down last year at Vanier College. This co-operative service would work independently from Dawson, be managed by an external company, and would simply be renting the space the college-operated bookstore used to occupy. The co-op would create student jobs in the bookstore, keep pricing affordable, and be a more convenient solution than the current one. 

Tobar-Icaza explained that because of the high turnover rate at the DSU, plans like this coming into fruition is a difficult process. However, she says that the DSU always wants to keep “the student’s best interests in mind.” Yet, she wants to “lay the groundwork for Dawson […] to see that we need to have a bookstore on campus,” which was the goal of the online petition. 

Jones also claims that a co-op is not a feasible solution, as the management is complex, financially and staffing-wise. He explains that the bookstore “was no longer generating profits, and […] fac[ed] severe staffing challenges,” which led to its ultimate closure. 

Dawson merchandise, such as hats, sweatshirts, shirts, socks, etc… are currently not being sold anywhere and, as Tobar-Icaza says, have become “lost media.” Tobar-Icaza also says the temporary loss of merchandise is “really unfortunate, and [Dawson merch has] been a staple for a lot of years.” Dawson has stated that an alternative plan is in the works for a point-of-sale of Dawson merchandise by Fall 2026. 
For an attempt at “brigg[ing] the gap with the bookstore closing,” the DSU houses The Swap, a student-run secondhand book service according to Tobar-Icaza. It was originally made for people who struggled to afford the books being offered at Dawson. The Swap lets students sell their old books, and has new students buying the secondhand books at reduced prices. The Swap, however, has a limited selection in that they only sell re-used books from previous years.

The Swap and the Concordia bookstore have proven to be inadequate solutions to an on-site bookstore with augmented student frustration. Students continue to hope for a re-instated bookstore at Dawson College, or more convenient solutions from the college and the DSU.