Detroit's Marwil Bookstore or purchasing them on the internet from online competitors, such as Amazon and eBay. After Marwil had been in business at WSU for some 59 years, Brian Kramer had seen textbook prices nearly triple over a period of two decades. According to a 2005 survey conducted by the National Association of College Students, about 25 percent of students had begun purchasing textbooks online. Another drastic change was when Wayne State opened a $6 million, 28,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble college bookstore right across the street in 2002. Marwil didn't have the fancy store front, cafe or music and apparel that was
Bluestockings (bookstore) support of volunteers and community members. It is still independent. Bluestockings was originally opened in 1999 as a feminist bookstore. The store closed briefly in late 2001, reopening a few months later, under its current model as a collectively-run worker-owned radical bookstore and activist center. The founding collective members expanded the focus of Bluestockings' titles and events programming to social justice related topics, including sections on Race and Black Studies, Political Theory, Intersectional Feminism, LGBTQ, Gender Studies, Anarchism, Class & Labor, Activist Strategies, Radical Education, Environment and Climate Justice, Indigenous Studies, Global Justice, Art, Science & Cultural Studies, Comics, Science