Welcome to Lab's Online Gateway to Books & Supplies

Frequently Asked Questions

Virtual Bookstore is Now Open

All books and supplies available through MBS Direct may be ordered starting July 1, 2008 by visiting our MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore. PE uniforms, equipment and a limited selection of spiritwear items are available at Lab's CLÖZ website.

FastPass Ordering Available | Posted July 10, 2008 9:00 a.m.

You may now use your student's six-digit Student ID in order to place orders on the MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore.

What is a Course ID? | Posted July 10, 2008 9:00 a.m.

When using the Shop by Course feature please note that the Course ID listed on the Virtual Bookstore is a combination of the "Number" and "Section" provided to your student in their schedule. For example on the Virtual Bookstore, Course ID 9999.1 would be "Number" 9999 and "Section" 1.

Required P.E. Equipment | Posted July 7, 2008 9:00 a.m.

Students in grades 5-12 are required to have one of each of the following: T-shirt, Shorts, Sweatshirt, Sweatpants, Lock, and Swim cap if necessary. Place orders at the CLÖZ website.

P.E. Equipment Available | Posted July 2, 2008 10:40 a.m.

Orders for P.E. uniforms and equipment as well as some spiritwear items may now be placed at the CLÖZ website by clicking here.

Two Courses Available 7/3/08 | Posted July 2, 2008 10:30 a.m.

Orders for AP Advanced Chemistry (1550.1) and Discrete Math (1440) will be accepted at the Virtual Bookstore tomorrow, July 3, 2008. Thank you for your patience.

About FastPass Ordering | Posted July 1, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Currently the FastPass ordering is not available at the MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore. This is affecting all of MBS Direct's client-schools and they are working diligently to correct the problem. When using the Shop by Course feature please note that the Course ID listed on the Virtual Bookstore is a combination of the "Number" and "Section" provided to your student in their schedule. For example on the Virtual Bookstore, Course ID 9999.1 would be "Number" 9999 and "Section" 1.

About MBS Direct

This past year, the Laboratory Schools have been looking at ways to improve our textbook and PE uniform program and are happy to announce two new partnerships. MBS Direct, a leading online textbook supplier, and CLÖZ, a well-respected online PE uniform and spirit wear provider, will manage and deliver these aspects of our program starting in 2008-2009.

Our decision to partner with MBS Direct was made with a great deal of consideration. After researching and exploring all the available online textbook suppliers, MBS Direct was the clear choice to provide textbooks online to our students. They proved to us that they are dedicated to delivering excellent customer service to the Schools and to each of you. The company currently serves hundreds of schools throughout the country and the world. They operate from a distribution complex in Columbia, Missouri with over 7 million textbooks – one of the best selections in the nation.

Online Textbook & Supply Ordering

Now that MBS Direct is Lab’s official online bookstore, we want you to know what to expect. First, ordering your textbooks will be simple and straightforward. Developed specifically for Lab, our MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore will be organized according to class names and student schedules and will provide you with real-time inventory when ordering. The store in Belfield Hall will remain open next year to meet a limited number of student supply needs as well as provide support for students and families who have questions about the textbook, uniform and supply ordering process. In addition, MBS Direct operates a U.S. based customer service center that is available 7 days a week.

Here are just a few of the other benefits of this new partnership that we think you’ll appreciate:

• Online ordering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Guarantee that every textbook used by our school will be available for purchase
• Largest selection of used books in the nation, with each one graded for quality
• Customer Loyalty program that gives you more back for your textbooks at buyback
• Most orders filled and shipped within 24 hours
• Low shipping rates due to MBS Direct’s significant shipping volume with UPS
• Payment options of Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express

PE Uniforms & Lab Spirit-Wear with CLÖZ

Many of these same conveniences will be available to you when ordering from CLÖZ this coming school year. A local company, CLÖZ, will make available the required PE uniforms and, in coming months, Lab spirit-wear, through not only a Lab-specific website and order-by-phone catalogue, but also at a retail store located in Niles. We are also working closely with their design team on concepts for several initial spirit-wear items.

Your Thoughts & Ideas

We have compiled a page of Frequently Asked Questions and will continue to add to it as we receive feedback from you about acquiring books and supplies online with MBS Direct and CLÖZ. Please send your questions, along with any ideas or concerns you may have at anytime. We also would welcome any suggestions you have for specific spirit-wear items we might offer in the future.

We sincerely hope you will be as pleased about these new partnerships as we are. More information about the ordering process and the buyback will be made available shortly in school publications and on this site, http://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/bookstore, which we suggest you bookmark for future reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will the Belfield Hall store hours be?

We intend for the store hours to remain the same next year. As we learn more about families needs for assistance with the ordering process and if spirit-wear items become available for purchase on campus, these hours may be revised.

What will be available in the Belfield Hall store?

Certain materials for courses in the art and music departments will be available for purchase in the store. Other supplies, for which the fee was paid through Lab’s MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore, but that are not shipped to your home, will either be available for pick up in the store or be distributed to students depending upon the instructions provided online when the fee was paid at the MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore.

When will the virtual bookstore be available for placing orders?

The MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore, as well as the CLÖZ site for PE uniforms and some initial spirit-wear, will be accepting orders for the 2008-09 school year on July 1, 2008. Once the online sites are live, you may place orders 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Until that date the MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore is available for informational purposes, but not for purchases.

Where do I purchase my PE uniforms?

All required PE uniforms and any spirit-wear you may want to purchase will be available on the CLÖZ website that has been specifically designed for the Laboratory Schools. Access to the site will be made available to families no later than July 1. This is a separate site from our MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore. Links to each site will be available through the Laboratory Schools website as well as on each other’s websites. In addition, CLÖZ will provide a custom color catalogue for every student. This catalogue will display all the items that are available for the 2008-09 school year. By using the catalogue and website, CLÖZ will walk each student through the process of ordering their PE uniforms and spirit-wear items. Once you have placed an order online or by phone, CLÖZ will send you an email confirmation of your order with an estimated ship date. It usually takes between 5 to 7 business days from the time you have confirmed your order for CLÖZ to ship out your merchandise. CLÖZ retail store is located in Niles for at once purchases.

How will the buyback happen?

General details of how the buyback will occur can be found at MBS Direct's EZDrop Buyback site and on our MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore. Lab's EZDrop Buyback will occur the last week of school, June 10-13, in Belfield Gym. Parent's Association volunteers will be available to receive your books from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday - Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. on Friday.

Should I sell back a book that one of my other children may be able to use next year?

You are welcome to sell back any book MBS Direct is willing to purchase. You may also want to consult with the volunteers at the EZDrop Buyback as to whether or not a specific book you are considering selling will be used again next year in one of your other student's courses. They can provide you with this information. We will be working with MBS Direct next year to make this information more readily available.

What is the refund policy?

MBS Direct's return policy is outlined on the Virtual Bookstore's FAQ Page. Cloz's Returns & Exchange policy can be found here.

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