Pearl River Community College recently renamed and revamped its bookstores, offering more educational tools and merchandise to the community than ever before.

The Wildcat Den, formerly known as the PRCC bookstore, located in Crosby Hall on the Poplarville campus and in the Allied Health Building at the Forrest County Center, is open to the community as well as students and employees.

Candace Mooney Harper became the director of bookstore services at PRCC in April. Over the past few months, Harper said she’s worked alongside faculty and staff to expand their two bookstores and provide more educational resources on campus to help students succeed in the classroom.

“The main purpose of the bookstore has always been to service the students with textbooks and supplies. This year, a lot of the publishers and instructors have been working towards a more cost-effective way for students to access their course materials, textbooks, access codes and everything they need,” Harper said.

The bookstores have recently adopted e-books in order to ensure students receive the educational tools necessary without breaking the bank.

“Textbooks are costly and students are either not coming to class prepared because they can’t or don’t want to buy textbook, so they’re not being set up for success,” Harper said.

The e-books not only cost less, but provide students with additional interactive digital features, including extra reading literature, quizzes, homework modules, printing options and video tutorials, which are available on all digital platforms, including cell phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers, Harper said.

With the growing popularity of e-books, it means there are fewer textbooks on bookstore shelves and more space for retail merchandise for the public.

The Wildcat Den recently started carrying well-known fashion brands such as Vera Bradley, Mud Pie, Nike and Southern Charm. They’ve also added merchandise such as clothing and accessories from high schools within Pearl River County.

The bookstores also offer jewelry, baby items and a variety of gift items, along with school supplies and electronics.

Harper said their students have helped determine the bookstores’ new vibe.

Earlier this year, bookstore staff surveyed customers in order to determine what students wanted to see inside their campus bookstores.

“Our philosophy is that as long as we keep the store stocked with things that we think our students want, they’ll come,” Harper said.

“The Wildcat Den is a new persona and new atmosphere where it’s not just your school supplies, your notebooks and your textbooks, it’s also where you’ve got everything you need to survive here at school.”

Harper is no stranger to smart business. She attended PRCC before graduating with a bachelor’s in marketing and receiving an M.B.A. at the University of Southern Mississippi. For the past 10 years, she’s worked within several departments at PRCC and also teaches classes in the business department.

Harper said their students come first and they plan to continue expanding their bookstores in order to provide the student body with convenient on-campus access to educational resources and merchandise.

“We’re also trying to build a connection with the community. We want people to be on campus and be exposed to the wonderful institution we have,” Harper said.

Customers can now purchase merchandise, including books, online at bookstore.prcc.edu.

Follow the Wildcat Den on Facebook and Instagram at prccbookstore.

Wildcat Den is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.