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Location
Memorial Union (East Wing)/ARC Pavillion
Mailing Address
2828 Cowell Blvd., Davis, CA, 95618 (this is not the store's physical location)
Hours
Pavillion
M-F: 10a.m.-3p.m.
Sat-Sun: CLOSED
General Bookstore (MU)
M-F: 8:30a.m.-6p.m.
Sat: Noon-5p.m.
Sun: CLOSED
Contact
General Bookstore: (530) 752-6846
Pavillion: (530) 752-1730
Computer Shop: (530)752-1945
[email protected]
Website
http://ucdavisstores.com/home.aspx

See also Bookstores; other bookstores may also sell UC Davis textbooks.

Disclaimer (Memorial Union Reconstruction)

Starting March 23, 2015, the departments of Campus Recreation and Unions (CRU) and Design and Construction Management (DCM) will begin the Memorial Union Renewal. This comprehensive renovation will make the historic Memorial Union a more dynamic environment and integral on-campus destination for students and others in the UC Davis community. The project will maintain the integrity of the Memorial Union as a historic facility, reinforcing its importance to the campus. In addition, a number of critical and strategic improvements will meet the needs of a growing student population and enhance the student experience. The Memorial Union Renewal includes the following improvements:

  • The creation of a new, more dynamic entry to the northwest side of campus and to the Memorial Union itself.
  • A new two-story lobby in the north face of the Memorial Union.
  • Increased lounge/study space.
  • A new home for the UC Davis Veterans Affairs Office.
  • Expanded opportunities for UC Davis Stores and ASUCD to serve the student population and campus community, including new and updated retail spaces.
  • Improvements to the North and South Memorial Union Plazas.
  • Critical improvements in compliance with seismic codes and ADA requirements.

You can find information for the project at the Campus Recreation and Unions Website or their Facebook Page.

 

The UC Davis Memorial Union General Bookstore sells, UC Davis clothing and gifts, school and office supplies, art supplies, sundries, snacks. The Tech Hub sells computer hardware, software, and accessories. Finally, The Pavillion sells course textbooks. Our tradebook section specializes in a wide selection of technical and academic titles, and remainders. Located on the first floorof the UC Davis Memorial Union, you can enter the store from the South Patio, where the old Post Office used to be. 

Cost

The UCD Bookstore is fairly expensive, but not unreasonably so. Most of its books sell at list. Art supplies sell slightly below list and a bit above street. The convenience of buying class supplies from a centralized, well-stocked location outweighs the price premium for most people. ASUCD Book Exchange allows students to obtain textbooks more cheaply by purchasing directly from each other (hidden costs exist though). See also Cheap Textbook Guide. Or you could take some classes without books.

The bookstore will also allow you to buy on credit, charging your student account. There's a small fee for this service (does anyone know the exact cost and why they do this?). It should be noted that transactions on the student account never reveal the actual items purchased — only the bookstore charge is noted. This is especially important when attempting to buy frivolous items with your parent's money.

Unpopular O'Reilly books get aggressive discounts, sometimes dropping to 50% of list price.

History

Bookstore seen from outside the Memorial Union.

Actually, I've been meaning to do some research on this for quite some time. Mark Champagne said that they owned it before he started working for the University. I'm not sure exactly when they sold it to the University, but it occurred sometime between 1967 and 1974 — when ASUCD was more worried about stopping the war than running businesses. He also mentioned that ASUCD was considering selling the Coffee House a little later on, but he successfully argued against it, proving that moronity did exist before the slate system but not in such large quantities. A friend of mine, a re-entry grad student, suggested that there were some terms of the sale of the Bookstore when he was on ASUCD Legislative Assembly. Possibly ASUCD retains some control over the bookstore, though no one knows what that would be. -The Labster

ASUCD did own and manage the Bookstore until the 1966.

"On April 21, 1966, the Executive Committee of ASUCD voted to relinquish operation of ASUCD Business Activities (Student Store, Fountain, Silo, and Barber Shop) and request that campus administration assume administrative supervision of these activities." -Chancellor Emil Mrak to the ASUCD President, June 16, 1966.

Over the following years, the administration strengthened its hold on the Bookstore. By 1982, when ASUCD-Administration relations were at what may have been their all-time low, ASUCD under President Jim Kjol sued the UC Regents for one million dollars in lost profits and for control of the Bookstore. The Regents and the Administration applied great pressure to ASUCD, including Vice Chancellor Dutton's threat to kick ASUCD off campus and revoke Unitrans' insurance. The Administration also refused to allow ASUCD to pay its lawyer, Thomas Frankel (who still practices in Davis).

Because of this pressure, ASUCD not only dropped this suit after Kjol's term ended, but the new ASUCD President signed a Memorandum of Understanding stating that ASUCD would relinquish all claims to the Bookstore; in return, ASUCD receives about $20,000 a year from Bookstore revenue (note: less than $1 per student), to be used exclusively for repairs and equipment upgrades within the Memorial Union. This money is allocated yearly by ASUCD Business Manager Mark Champagne.

Many other Associated Students own their campus bookstores; notably, ASUC at Berkeley and ASUCLA give over $1 Million in Bookstore profits to clubs.

In 2006, ASUCD Senator Rob Roy asked Assistant Vice Chancellor Janet Gong via email if it would be possible for ASUCD to buy the Bookstore back from the Administration. The answer was no.

We Are Aggie Pride

The We Are Aggie Pride program is a student originated and led philanthropy program that receives assistance and guidance from the UC Davis Office of Development. It originated when a group of students realized that their peers were having their ability to achieve severely disrupted by short-term financial crises that weren’t covered by financial aid.

Many UC Davis students are attending school with little or no assistance from their families, and may not have any funding source to fall back on in a time of need. This program was conceived to cover food, rent and other essential costs not covered by other programs, to keep students on track for academic success.

Digital Course Content

Good news from the UC Davis bookstore about new opportunity to teach with digital resources while saving your students money on fall textbooks.

The Bookstore Annex in South Davis visible from I-80. This is where their mail is received.

Comments:

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Best place in town for art supplies - they only ever run out at the beginning of a quarter because of the required supplies list from whatever classes the students are taking. Cheaper than the The Paint Chip, with a waaay bigger selection. — EmmaCoats

The computer store prices have a general over-priced curve to other places. I can usually Ebay for much cheaper, but also get supplies from Best Buy or Costco that sometimes are as much as $20 - $40 less than at the Computer Store. The only advantage of going there is using my student account. —SS

I am definitely not thrilled by the service or selection at the UCD Bookstore Computer Shop. They have no way to special order items with any reasonable shipping date (besides "whever we get it"), and the student employees are usually inattentive if the management is not around. Also the computer store appears to have no reasonable stock management control, often not having items in stock for weeks at a time as they wait for shipments to finally arrive. The only upside to the computer store is that they are there is you absolutely have to put an item on your student account even though their prices are usually higher than other stores. So if you can afford otherwise go to Fry's or eBay as you will save yourself time, money and frustration. —IanMcKinnon

2007-09-03 18:11:51   The UC Davis Bookstore is a far nicer place to shop compared to the bookstore at UC Santa Barbara. A TV news show actually showed undercover security grabbing and forcibly detaining shoplifters for stealing even the smallest items such as pens. UCSB security wait until the shoplifters exit the store where they then ambush them and arrest them. There are no second chances. Those students now have permanent criminal records and were forced to pay fines that rivaled yearly school fees. No matter how bad you think it is here, there's somewhere else where things are far worse. —Jedron

2007-09-04 11:21:32   But Jedron! If we use that sort of logic, we'll have to perpetually raise our tolerance levels. We can't control the limit that way. Just because the situation is worse Somewhere Else doesn't mean it can't improve here.

I wasn't going to complain about the Bookstore, but as long as I'm here... Argh, special order shipping! I was supposed to get the solutions guide for organic chemistry before my midterm, but they kept extending the shipping date. "Check back tomorrow," they kept telling me, even though someone else who ordered a solutions guide after me received it before me. Grr. That was probably mine. :-( —NumiaCairaguas

2007-09-04 19:37:06   Reply. I was simply commenting that receipt checking is a good idea at the UCD Bookstore. It is best to make people know that shoplifting is not tolerated and that receipts will be checked. Some people here complain that receipt checking at our bookstore is useless, however I believe that it is a good idea. What I do not approve of is "police brutality" or "security brutality" at UCSB's Bookstore. Which is a very uncomfortable place to shop at for even law abiding citizens. That is why I prefer the UCD Bookstore. —Jedron

  • As far as I know, you cannot be forced by a door Nazi to show your receipt at the door unless there is "probable cause" to stop you. This goes for Fry's, too. When I am at Fry's, I just keep walking. The only exceptions I am aware of are for "club"-type stores like Costco; does the bookstore have some sort of status like that? (As long as I am here making a comment, let me say that I like the UCD Bookstore very much, both for its selection and general layout — and I've seen a lot of campus bookstores. But I have the luxury of being able to avoid it during peak times of the quarter). —CovertProfessor

  • Yup, I don't disagree with this. Receipt-checking only happens when the bookstore is especially busy anyway. I was only commenting on your argument. :-) —NumiaCairaguas

2007-10-02 23:01:40   no more notebooks and binders allowed in the bookstore!! apparently they think we all will try to steal scantrons...

i also paid for my books in cash the other day, and the cashier decided that they had to make sure all the $10 and $20 bills were real..i could understand if they did it to $50 and $100 bills, but $10s and $20s, come on now. —DonaldJaye

2008-01-27 20:36:35   Bookstore security doesn't actually check receipts that's usually the job of rush cashiers that get hired on at the beginning of the quarter. Most people in the store aren't treated like thieves, just those people acting shady or you know actually stealing. You'd be surprised just how many thefts occur in a day let alone a quarter. —ArmyDecoy

2008-03-28 09:06:58   Just another place that seeks to rip you off although recently their new textbooks prices have begun to reflect actual market prices due in part to their learning how to use the internet and checking their prices against websites such as Amazon. As if anyone would even want to buy a new book…since in most cases it’s only used for a single quarter or not at all…Art supply prices seem to be fairly decent but avoid buying office supplies there at all costs. Freshman take note: Come well stocked Costco style before coming to Davis.

How is the bookstore a scam? I once needed batteries for my graphing calculator as it was running low on power for a calculus midterm and dropped by the bookstore right before where to my surprise…a 5 pack of Duracell’s for $8?? Turned out I didn’t need them as my calculator died at the end of the test…RIP you brave Duracell’s, longer lasting than those Energizers…I went to return them and they wouldn’t accept them, turns out they believe if you make a battery return, you have already skillfully cut open the package and removed the fresh batteries while replacing them with used ones and proceeded to reseal the package. What the f_?

Shoplifting is apparently rampant…at those prices is it all that surprising? What we have here is a localized monopoly with the only alternative: an Office Depot far from campus for your typical I-need-to-bike-my-arse-to-school student. Need a pen/pencil? Don’t go to the UCD Bookstore; just grab one off of a fellow student (only for test-taking emergencies) student organization or club. They’ll usually be more than happy to offer one.

-Davis: Get in, get out, but leave your money.

—senioritis

    2008-05-21 22:06:03   Not only does the bookstore seek to rip you off with RIDICULOUS prices and irritating package deals, they seem to be succeeding in their desire to win the title of WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IN ALL OF DAVIS. It is sad that a store representing such a prestigious institution is probably an example of its worst qualities. The cashiers are completely robotic and inane in their response to a service or return question, simply repeating what they are PROGRAMMED to repeat regardless of an individual situation. Moreover, apparently a student ID with my picture on it is not enough proof that it is actually mine. Don't even get me started on return policy there. Actually I'm going to rant anyway whether you like it or not. I tried to make a return of a CD I had never opened because I dropped the class. Somehow I was told I should have remembered the exact cash register at which the item was purchased...when the numbers have actually CHANGED SINCE THEN..but I'm supposed to figure that out anyway. And I have to submit some sort of proof I dropped the class....ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???????????? The lack of respect for customers and idiotic staff have given me good reason to stay as far away from this store as possible. HELLO AMAZON.com. —triscuitqueen

    In their defense, have you noticed how incredibly easy it would be to forge a student ID card? They're printed with ink jet, so the ink comes off very easily on its own. Probably be easier if you tried. It would be simple enough to erase a lost card and print a new picture on it. If the ID didn't belong to a freshman, you could probably get about a month out of the modified card. Also, magstripe units aren't that rare... someone could fool around with that as well. California drivers licenses, on the other hand, are significantly harder to forge. —WilliamLewis

        Don't be lazy and waste your (or your parents) money at this place. It is a shame that there isn't even a reliable online source to look up the textbooks you need. My brother started at UCSC this year and I was surprised to see that their campus bookstore actually lets you look up the books you need on their website without forcing you to physically go to the store. What happened to that awesome davis wiki textbook look up page? The book exchange list is outdated/incomplete. Davistext.com is different from what was posted for a few of my classes this fall. Anyway until there is a reliable way to get this info elsewhere I encourage all you to do this: 1. go to bookstore & write down the books required for each class on a note card (or wait for class to start & get your syllabus, I've found that often times the bookstore lists books as required that are optional or not needed at all) 2. visit amazon.com or half.com or the site of your choice and save yourself serious cash

      If for some reason you have to buy a new book at the bookstore I heard from a former employee that they will actually price match lower prices from websites. Maybe someone can confirm/deny this who has tried? —BenJohnson

      • They have the same system at UCSD where you can look up your textbooks online. It's something that should definitely be part of SISWEB here. —OscarSabino

      • I just wanted to clarify that in Fall 2008 books on www.davistext.com were inputed by hand. We made some changes now and on top of programing the books in for accuracy, its based on "official textbook information from the school." —DavisText

      2008-09-24 10:37:57   I used to enjoy the bookstore, but now that I'm at UCLA I'm floored - it's much bigger here, has way cooler and nicer stuff, and most amazingly: isn't so obnoxious as to force everyone to check their bags in. —EdWins

      • I thought the same thing when I went to the bookstore at USC, what with its escalators and huge amounts of floor space, but I chalked it up to USC being a private school with lots of dough. If it's that much better at UCLA though, maybe the UC Davis bookstore is doing something wrong. —OscarSabino

      2008-12-03 12:45:59   Pretty poor customer service - but not from the student workers, but someone who I think was a manager... she was an older woman, and when I asked if she could help me find a book from the warehouse (after having been given the call number from a student) she brushed me off, belittled me and treated me as if I was completely ruining her day. —SamanthaA

      *Nice to know that nothing much has changed since my time as a UCD undergrad. Good ol' UCD Bookstore. Now when I go there for anything (which isn't that often these days), I just expect poor customer service. In fact I'm thrown off if anyone even acknowledges that I exist while checking me out. I just don't expect any interaction, or even a modicum of customer service. And I definitely think there is a "jerk-shift". Why are the students downright hostile? I could understand if you are someone who's been working that crappy job for gig for 10+ years. But why the young students? And by the way, it's not like that is the only student job available. If you hate it so much, work in another department. The prices for textbooks are unconsionable. Is that the convenience cost? Why they can get away with it? But I think that is the case at most universities. It's most certainly true at McGeorge. It's definitly worth checking the used bookstore, your friends, and amazon.com. During my time at UCD, I figured out ways to save money. Money was tight. Especially if they are required texts, but you don't really need your own copy. I stopped buying textbooks completely. Shields has copies of most texts on reserve. And when they didn't, I asked the professor to request that it be placed on reserve. And they always did. I don't think you can take reserve items out of the library, but I would just study at the library when I needed to complete assignments that required the text (I got more done that way, anyway). Some professors even loaned me books for the quarter. And a few even gave me my own copy. Save your money. Don't give it to The Man! :D —CurlyGirl26

      2009-01-12 23:20:23   I hate the place so much now, found a book that was selling at Barnes and Noble for ~$20 cheaper and has free 3 day delivery. ARGH I WANT TO BURN IT DOWN!! I have been a fool for being swindle into going there just because it was closer. Tip for all freshies out there, avoid the bookstore like you are avoiding your ex. Just search for your books online and most websites offer free shipping. Even the next day shippings + cost is cheaper than what bookstore deals out. Only get books that are made by the school and to check for book titles, other than that you can always try half.com. I guess yeah down with the BOOKSTORE!! —AHL

      • With the sentiment I read from this statement, it sounds like you're against all bookstores that charge more than the internet...which is pretty much all of them. -SunjeetBaadkar

      2009-03-02 00:50:20   The TechHUB has the best Logic Studio 8 price I've ever seen. It's ridiculously cheap. Get it. —btronclassix

      2009-05-30 23:18:57   I love that the bookstore claims to have "guaranteed low prices!" I bought a 150-page novel for a class the other day whose $7.95 was covered by a little white sticker, presumably so I would not question being charged $13 at the register. At the register, I asked, "So, the low-price guarantee thing—that doesn't apply to prices hidden underneath white stickers, does it?" Naturally, the cashier told me that it did not. Heh. Of course.

      The idea of having to ask to match the list price seems rather absurd to me. Oh well. Campus bookstores are expensive—what else is new?

      FWIW, the UCD bookstore doesn't seem to screw you over nearly as badly as the Utah-based chain that was operated at my old community college, Shasta College, in Redding. Now *that* store really knew how to rape their customers. —RobertM525

      2009-09-29 21:17:21   As of 09/21 they're charging 10% restocking for returns. You can do what I did with the not-exactly-a-lie "My teacher said we didn't need (program/book)" to keep your 10%. —HarrisonM

      2010-04-01 14:51:05   Textbook prices are insane here. I have tried avoiding buying books at the book store but sometimes the internet is not reliable enough to send you something on time. I tried doing their price matching thing and it was a no go because the bookstore decided to be sneaky and order a "binder-ready" version of the text which is assigned a different ISBN. I found the exact same book on another site that was a whopping 40% lower than the price in the book store and even though it came with the CD and access code (like the one in the store), they wouldn't accept the match because it had a different ISBN. The books were exactly the same. Just the one from the store is a stack of papers with holes in it whereas the other website was selling an actual BOOK. It's ridiculous because you'd think that the actual book with a binding and cover should be more expensive but the bookstore still wouldn't accept it.

      And about the 10% restocking fee, you need proof from your professor that the text is worthless for your class. This isn't much of an issue for me because that's exactly what happened in my class except the bookstore doesn't believe me and wants written proof from the professor. It's just a hassle to email but whatever, the bookstore is not getting any more of my money. —Blaine

      2010-04-12 15:47:01   I sometimes buy books here because of the convenience, but Amazon.com usually sells books for much cheaper (sometimes a new copy from Amazon is cheaper than a used copy from the bookstore). Anyway, two weeks ago, I came in to look for a refill for a pen I bought at the store over a year ago and an employee hands me one saying it should work (I handed her my pen so she would know exactly what I needed). Of course, after I open the packaging, I find out it does not fit. I tried to return it but they of course do not accept any returns for refills and I guess I should have double-checked if I did not want this to happen so I do not place any blame on the store here. It turns out that they did not carry any refills for the pen so I had to order one if I wanted it. They told me it took only two days so I did order from them. It took over a week. I might as well have gone to Office Max or bought it online. I would like to add however, the employee who took down my special order cared enough to remember me, which was unexpected and nice. —hankim

      2010-07-26 10:20:11   For the textbook returns - I believe that if you dropped the class and return it within a week (or 10 days of dropping), you will get a full refund.

      The price matching usually works for me - just go to amazon.com (or any other online book retailer), print out the price, and bring your receipt to the Trades desk (in the back right of the bookstore) —EvelinaChang

      2011-01-12 14:13:20   My comment is about the repair shop

      After having my desktop repaired here i would never recomend thier services to anyone. After having crashing problems i took it in where i was told it was a hard drive problem and was fixable. Their turnover was resonible but the fix only lasted a week before it began crashing agian. I brought it back and they agreed to give it another shot. This is when the problems began.

      1st After not hearing back for a month i went in to ask about the hold up, i found out the repair technition had quit and they had not bothered to contact and finish his projects.

      2nd Next the price he quoted me on for windows 7 was apperently wrong since i was told it was going to be an extra 60 dollars

      3rd and defintally the most distressing was that they lost my old hard drive. Meaning that i lost 3 years of photos, documents, music, and everything else. They offered their apologies which was nice, but it was to little to late

      and to finish it off they lost my power cord as well

      —shambler

        2011-02-25 16:57:44   This is a response to "shambler" (this response can also be found in the TechHub entry of DavisWiki).

        The issue for the customer was a hard drive issue. The first time it was repaired, we were able to restore their hard drive without having to replace it. A month went by before the customer came back in with the same issue. We then tried to restore it again with no success, their drive was dead at this point.

        Now, to address the below mentioned points: 1.) Repeated attempts were made to reach the customer in order to inform them that they would need a new drive. After two weeks, we received an email informing us to go ahead with the replacement of the hard drive. [I must admit at this point it did take a little longer than normal for us to receive the drive to install.] The customer was notified by the technician and interim technician that the unit's operating system would be required in order for the computer to be fully functional. Several weeks later, the customer arrived at the store apologizing for the delay and just wanted to pick the machine up at a later time and they would install the OS themselves (which would save on the cost of purchasing a new OS). They asked if they could come back in a week to pick it up, and that was fine with us. 2.) Yes, the technician did quote a price for the student license version of the Operating System (which is an upgrade only, needing a previous OS to install). When this was quoted to the customer, it was quoted because we were led to believe that the customer would be providing us with an OS and that we would then "upgrade" to Windows 7. When the customer was unable to provide one, they were indeed quoted the price of a full version, which is more expensive. 3.) As far as the old drive was concerned, it is always a good idea to back up your data before bringing in any computer to any repair shop. We are usually very good about trying to help customers out with this. Normally, we do try to give the old parts back to the customer after a repair is finished, but we are incredibly sorry that in this case that part was lost. 4.) We provided the customer a power cord that they picked up at a later date. (We had failed to give it to them at the time the tower was picked up).

        As far as the compensation is concerned, the service fee was waived. My point in all this is, we really try to satisfy every customer. —MAdams

        2014-02-20 14:45:10   Basically, they price gouge. Usually, their used price is more than new prices on amazon, and you can walk across the street to the other bookstore and get cheaper.

        It's a shame that the bookstore feels they must swindle new students who don't know any better. —JimPage

        The UC Davis Stores will match the price of any NEW book in the store (including textbooks) with the price offered by any retailer licensed by the state. —['Users/paultakushi"]

        2014-07-10 16:12:38   Sometimes, after a hard day of working, I come in here, grab some book I like, sit down on one of their sofa, prepare to start brief reading, then completely fell asleep on the sofa...good hypnotic environment I guess —Cyclonus

        2014-12-19 02:36:22   Not sure which firms have contracts for designing ucd apparel but they should be fired. Most of the apparel is just ugly. Especially the women's- I'm not sure why all of it has to have obnoxious cursive lettering? Any decent design in unisex will never have small sizes available for very long. If you do want apparel, go to Costco. Their selection is WAY better designed and WAY cheaper. A cotton hoodie at the bookstore (which may or may not be hideous) will run you $60, whereas at Costco a ucd athletic fleece is $35. Over my years at Davis I've bought maybe 3 articles of clothing at the bookstore that weren't ugly and decently priced. Knowing that the student gov doesn't even profit from the store really makes me think it's a waste to buy overpriced and ugly clothing from here. —exTex

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