Book Exchange
The Book Exchange was a university-operated campus store that opened in 1915 after students and faculty complained about textbook prices in local stores. Housed in the Campus Y building, the store focused primarily on textbooks but also sold school supplies. Store offerings and services changed over the years. In the 1930s the Book Exchange offered typewriter cleaning and repair services. The fact that the store was run by the university appeared to do little to alleviate complaints over prices. Stories and editorials frequently appeared in the Daily Tar Heel complaining about prices and overcrowding at the "Book-Ex." The bookstore was located in the basement of Steele Building in the 1950s and 1960s before moving to much more spacious quarters in the new Daniels Building when it opened in 1968.