photo by: Sara Shepherd

Jayhawk Bookstore is located at 1420 Crescent Road, just off the KU campus at Crescent and Naismith Drive.

Jayhawk Bookstore — “at the top of the hill,” as its longtime advertising jingle goes — is going out of business and will close for good this week. Owners cite dwindling sales, particularly of textbooks.

The store’s last day will be Thursday, according to signs outside the building at 1420 Crescent Road, just off the KU campus at Crescent and Naismith Drive.

Jayhawk Bookstore is one of several businesses owned by the Levin family of Manhattan, best known for owning Varney’s Book Store in Aggieville, which has served Kansas State University students since 1890.

All the businesses are closing, including Varney’s Book Store, a sportswear shop in Manhattan, another sportswear shop in Salina and Lawrence’s Jayhawk Bookstore, said Jeff Levin, one of the owners.

photo by: Sara Shepherd

Jayhawk Bookstore is located at 1420 Crescent Road, just off the KU campus at Crescent and Naismith Drive.

“We’re going completely out of business,” Levin said. “It’s like death by 1,000 slices, because there’s a lot of factors. Obviously we lost a lot of market share to the internet, but also buying trends have changed.”

The Levin family bought Jayhawk Bookstore — which had been operating in the same spot for decades — in 2013, Levin said.

Jayhawk Bookstore’s “bread and butter” was textbooks, he said. He said owners had predicted a significant loss for January, but it was even deeper than anticipated, and they were no longer able to sustain their business model.

“To pay for the kind of square footage we were using we needed textbooks to do well,” he said.

Among other challenges, Levin said, faculty have changed how they formulate class material. Instead of assigning books, they’re assigning more “chunks” of information. There’s been a rise in online open-access material and more students ordering books online.

If people aren’t coming in the door to buy books, they don’t buy many supplies either, Levin said.

There’s also more competition with collegiate gear, Levin said. “Even grocery stores are selling clothing.”

photo by: Sara Shepherd

A going out of business banner outside Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420 Crescent Road, is pictured on June 28, 2016.

Jayhawk Bookstore’s closing will leave KU’s Central District and West Campus with no on- or next-to-campus bookstore.

KU Bookstore, operated by KU Memorial Unions, has its main location inside the Kansas Union at the eastern end of campus.

There was a KU Bookstore satellite location inside the Burge Union in KU’s Central District, but the building was torn down this spring and KU Memorial Unions does not plan to have a similar bookstore in the new Central District union, expected to be constructed by fall 2018.

KU Bookstore is and will remain the only place to buy textbooks on campus, said KU Memorial Unions director David Mucci. He said commonly needed class supplies — such as pens, pencils, bluebooks, folders and batteries — are available in convenience stores at the Kansas Union, the Underground in Wescoe Hall and, eventually, the new Central District union.

Once Jayhawk Bookstore closes, it’s unclear what’s next for the building “at the top of the hill.”

The Levin family does not own the building housing Jayhawk Bookstore, Levin said.

The building’s owner did not immediately respond to a message from the Journal-World Tuesday afternoon.