By John Cusick
Over the summer, Colorado Mesa University’s University Center went through what some would call a total makeover. At least the important sections of the University Center that is.
When school ended, students knew that there would be a new food station that took center stage when they passed through outside of class hours. After discussion and polling from students, it was clear that one restaurant had the upper hand. School officials gave students a few options, among those were Panda Express and Chick-Fil-A.
After overwhelming student response, Chick-Fil-A opened Friday, Aug. 19, and was immediately greeted by lines of students and parents who were moving in. The restaurant had several hurdles to cover, most notably Sodexo’s guidelines which state that all restaurants at the university must serve Pepsi products, conflicting with Chick-Fil-A’s partnership with Coca-Cola. This led to CMU’s Chick-Fil-A becoming the only Chick-Fil-A in the United States that serves Pepsi.
“Chick-Fil-A again is kind of a no brainer,” Vice President of Student Services John Marshall said. “I think you’d have to work hard for that not to be successful. I think the real question is going to be how the [convenience] store, the grill and sushi do, and I think that will be the real mark of success if we start to see those settle in and catch,”
That was not the only thing that received renovation over the summer. During the spring semester, there were talks of rebranding the bookstore. Those changes did indeed come, as the bookstore is now called The Maverick Store.
With a newly branded logo and a whole new marketing regimen, it isn’t clear how successful the store has been throughout the first week. However, Marshall is optimistic that the store will continue to grow and show itself to both the students and the Grand Junction population.
“The retail presence for CMU goods is something that we want
to grow,” Marshall said.
One of the problems that is associated with The Maverick Store is that students sometimes are not sure that it even exists. Considering where it is currently located, it is tough to create an atmosphere for students passing through the University Center that lures them into the store to purchase apparel that supports the school. “When you are sitting there and eating your chicken sandwich or Umai Bowl and Roll, how do you even know the bookstore is back there?” Marshall said.
Marshall also said that bringing more people in for more activity is one of the goals for the future. As the school looks into
bringing a larger presence to the store, extending products out into the University Center such as racks of clothing and apparel in hopes to drive the traffic up.
An alteration that goes unnoticed by most students is located on the second floor of the University Center. At the end of the hall next to the meeting rooms CMU has added another entrance.
Prior to this, there was only one way to enter the second floor and that was to come from the parking garage and head up through the elevator. There is now an entrance that leads straight to the second floor and allows easy access.
There are future items planned for the University Center, including another entrance added on the second floor of the UC allowing for more access. However, these renovations will most likely not come until sometime next summer as the school year has just begun and there is no need for interruption.
When asked how CMU’s campus stacked up comparatively, this is what Marshall had to say: “I think when you really look carefully at the total offerings of quality faculty, quality programs and quality facilities, you’d look a long way before you found a school that’s doing more right now than we are.”
