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I don't know. These days most brick-and-mortar stores have to compete with online stores. They all need to rely on the convenience of local shopping and lack of shipping costs vs. the price pressure from the online stores. (And let's not forget that the store's shipping costs are part of the reason for their prices.) A store that doesn't want to allow competitive shopping isn't going to last in either environment. Suppose Amazon didn't let you see the prices of books until you were actually placing an order? I don't think they'd get much business.
I suspect the real reason the coop was watching this student is because they've had problems in the past with students using the coop as a library-- coming in, looking in books, writing down a few key facts or references, and leaving, with no intention to buy the book at all. That's what the quote from the manager implies, anyway. But the headline saying they own the book prices sounds so much more sensational.
@HarryT, I know textbook authors get next to nothing on textbook sales, and I know about the scale problem with print runs, but I don't think that excuses the prices the publishers are charging for the books. The textbook authors would probably get more money and keep prices lower by self-publishing through a POD service, but of course textbook publishers do provide some editing and a *lot* of marketing, so the author would have to be fairly well-known to go that route.
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