‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;Some business owners say nothing good has came out of the closure of the Bee-Gee Book Store that was once located at 1424 E. Wooster.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;Owners of the store decided to close in February 2005 after sales continued to slack off over the years. Without the bookstore to attract students and families, businesses in the shopping plaza say their sales have suffered.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;’It has effected our business a great deal,’ said Ramona DiBenedetto, co-owner of DiBenedetto’s Pasta ‘amp; Subs.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;DiBenedetto’s is located beside the now vacant store where Bee-Gee Book Store once stood. The restaurant tended to see increases in business around the beginning and ending of semesters when students were buying or selling books. Many students would opt to treat themselves to lunch at DiBenedetto’s with the extra money they got from selling their books, which didn’t happen last spring, according to DiBenedetto.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;’When the kids moved out in May, we saw a noticeable difference because when kids turn their books in, this was their traffic pattern,’ she said.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;Quarters Carry out co-owner Lauren Tobul said there has been noticeably less foot traffic in the plaza area since Bee-Gee went out of business. ‘There are definitely less people over here to buy books, so that has effected our business a little bit,’ Tobul said.However, these businesses are hopeful that renovations and the addition of a new business in the plaza will be enough to draw students back to the area.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;As for SBX, the sister bookstore of Bee-Gee, Manager Kent Kokomoor said the future doesn’t look hopeful. He had hoped that business from Bee-Gee would flow over to SBX, but according to Kokomoor, it hasn’t.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;’There has been no boost in sales,’ said Kokomoor. ‘I would say there has been a little bit of a decrease.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;’Kokomoor attributes the loss of business and the closing of Bee-Gee to the University’s BiG Charge. He has been working to convince the University to do away with the BiG Charge because he says it is bad for local businesses and creates a monopoly over book sales in Bowling Green. He said that he has many students coming in, asking if they can use their BiG Charge and leaving without buying anything when they find out that they can’t.

‘#160;’#160;’#160;’#160;While the University does offer City Bucks that students can use off-campus, he says that he has seen only three sales from it this fall. He said two of the transactions have been small, only in the amount of about $20. He plans to keep urging the University to move to a different type of card system to save what is left of his business and other businesses around town.