From the bustling streets of Chicago to the small, rural setting of Baldwin City, Baker University Bookstore Manager Bruce Skoog has a lot more to offer than simply a discount on school spirit attire.
Raised in suburban Chicago with his parents, older brother and sister, Skoog recalls his experience nostalgically.
 “Chicago was a great place to grow up,” Skoog said. “There was anything and everything to do, but it seemed small enough that you could easily get downtown to the city for events.”
After high school, Skoog attended Michigan State University, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree, then moved on to the University of Evansville to receive his master’s.
“[Being a bookstore manager] is a complete career change for me,” Skoog said. “My background is in the hospitality business.”
Moving everywhere from Atlanta to Indianapolis, Skoog has been exposed to many different lines of work, even coaching basketball at a community college.
Until switching careers four years ago, he mainly worked in hotels.
“My wife and I ran a few independent motels around the Chicago area,” Skoog said.
These included the Amish Country Inn and the Arcola Inn—named after the small town three hours south of Chicago where they were located.
After this experience, Skoog began his own real estate company, selling hotels to prospective buyers. But because of the real estate market collapse a few years later, Skoog decided that it was time for another change.
Fast forward to 2010. Skoog is working for a book company in southwest Missouri. A few months later in March, he learns that his company has been awarded a contract to start managing a bookstore at a school called Baker University.
For Skoog, this was the most natural change of pace he could have imagined.
“I like being on a college campus because there’s always activity … always something going on,” Skoog said.
Though the settings are different, Skoog still says he would not change anything.
“The greatest pleasure I get is getting to know the students,” Skoog said. “To get to know someone who grew up in south Florida, for example, is just amazing.”
It turns out that just as Skoog enjoys the daily in-and-out with the students, who refer to him as “the bookstore guy,” the students enjoy his charm and charisma as well.
“He’s always got a smile on his face and knows how to help you find what you need,” freshman Jesse Miller said.
Freshman Dante Simmons agreed with Miller, saying that Skoog is always “nice and helpful,” and that “all [his] experiences with him have been great.”
Though he misses a few things about his hometown—namely his favorite pizza joint, Gino’s East—Skoog said that many of Baker’s students and staff members make his experience as “the bookstore guy” truly wonderful.