The Home of Student Essentials

   The Bloomsburg University Store located on East Second Street inside of Shultz Hall, offers a bright school spirited atmosphere. The University store has bright lights, that shine on the many displays they have, which brings much liveliness to the store. Most wall are painted a maroon color, with gray block walls only on the right side of the store, this brings much school spirt because Bloomsburg is represented by the color maroon. When you walk in, many decorative items line the walls, like a huge Bloomsburg University decal the length of a whole wall and a sign that says "Howl About A Book". In all you will find the University store an inviting place with lots of school spirit. 

     Laura Hegar the University store manager over sees all of the smaller departments in the store. Laura stays very recognizable by her black glasses, bright and colorful professional outfits, and shoulder length brown hair, which helps to show off her bubbly personality. Inside the school store they have multiple departments like accounting, textbooks, help desk, clothing buyer, social media/marketing and more. Within the University store many employees work together to keep the whole store running smoothly. Laura and her amazing team work so hard to make sure the needs of students stay met within the different departments the store encases. 

    Seven days a week everyone from students and staff to the general public can visit the the Bloomsburg University Store. At the University Store you can find may things like, insignia items, clothing, books, home decor, school supplies, textbooks, study guides, accessories, food/drinks and more. With all the options and great organization it is very easy to find something you need or want. The University store has its very own section for textbooks, which serves as a great help to students because this where they can go to get their textbooks unavailable online, before they start classes. Overall it makes everything much more convenient for the people in the school wanting or needing something.

    The University store can be broken down into 4 main sections,

 "Grab and Go", "Booktok", Clothing/accessories, and School supplies/textbooks. 

When you walk into the store you will see an entire section called "grab and go". In this section you will find everything from food and water to personal care items and more. This can be very beneficial for students without a vehicle or for some reason cannot leave campus but need an essential. They created the Booktok section to get students more engaged with reading because all the books that in that section come from social media/TikTok. This can help students get more engaged in reading because they read about it on social media and then they might want to read more about it. The University Store having school supplies and textbooks readily available to students/staff serves as a great benefit. This cuts down on students having to find textbooks on third party websites or making sure that they purchase the right textbook. The University Store makes easy to find the textbook counter with a large yellow sign that says "Textbook Service Counter" above it. Having school supplies like notebooks, folders, pencils and more readily available has great benefits because if you went school shopping and all the sudden you need something else for a class or you forgot something, you don't have to worry about making another trip to a big store, you can just go to the University store and get what you need. A large part of the University store is the clothing and accessories. They have things like crewnecks, hoodies, shirts, stickers, mugs, hats and more that all have Bloomsburg or Commonwealth University designs on them so you can help to support the school and show off your school spirit. Each of these sections serve a very different purpose but all together they make a great one stop shop for students if they need an essential. 

 Laura Hegar the University store manager says in a soft tone that "the most sold item at the University store are the ID wallets that stick to the back of your phone case", but personally she like the hoodies and the Booktok section the best.

    You can get involved with the University store through a on campus job there. With a campus job there you can do many things like accounting, marketing, and just sales in general. When working there you will most likely get placed in a position that has to do with you major. For example, if you are a marketing major you will likely have a job working in social media. A current student worker stated, "it is a good job for when you need a job in college because you have to pay monthly rent or other expenses". This on-campus job teaches you how to be employed in a teamwork setting, reliable and be a student with a job to learn to manage a work, school balance without having to travel far for a job. 

    A Student Worker at the University store emphasized that they like working there because of the very friendly and understanding customers. She stated with joy the customers put into consideration that they are student workers, so they also have the job of being a student and learning how to do their job at the University store, so customers usually have more patience with them. 

    Having a Job in the University store has its advantages and disadvantages according to Laura. When she goes on to hire someone for the University store she thinks of the goals, she wants them to achieve by the end. Her goals consist of students having fun, learning real world experiences, gaining critical thinking skills like recognizing problems and learning how to solve them, creating a good customer service persona, learning how to enhance/create social media promotions, and having good accountability. By them showing up to work on time when scheduled and understanding that what they do will affect the other staff. This all teaches responsibility and skills that you need to know to excel in the future. Although there are advantages to working at the University store there can also be disadvantages according to Laura. For example, when you go to graduate you will have to go out and find that job that you worked hard to get and you will learn how to take those goals you learned at the University store and put them into action. Laura stated that the disadvantage to her of having student workers is they work there most of time for 4 years, and when they work there for that long she creates a close relationship with the students, so when they go on to graduate, she has to train and meet new students. Having a job at the University store can come with its ups and downs but overall, it can be a great way to gain experience about real world situations.  

 As you venture throughout the store you will notice that most people shopping there have differences, on weekdays you get mostly students shopping, and on weekends you get new prospective students, their families, and members of the community. 

A prospective student and his family stated happily that "everything in the store was great, it was very well organized and had variety of things and sizes". When going to check out they emphasized that the staff was very helpful with all of the questions they had and they were very attentive to the needs of the customers in the store. 

     A current student at the University, Peighton Spangler said " the University store was very impressive when she first saw it. It reminded her of a clothing section in a department store when it came to what kinds of clothes they had, because they had a lot of name brands like Nike, Under Armour and Champion". As a student she showed a sense of joy when talking about the "grab and go" section. She stated if you can't get out to get your car or if you don't feel like going out you can just go to the school store and get your essentials.

    Even though the University store remains open seven days a week, some days at the University store can be busier than others, and with special events/more people, it usually means a sale. The busiest times of year consist of the first few weeks of the semester, move in day, orientation in the summer, admissions program weekends like major showcases, and homecoming/parents' weekend. Laura said happily that she loves the beginning of the semester and move in week because she gets to meet the new students and their parents. While these are the busiest times of year, most staff say these days sit at the top of their list, being their favorite times of the year. For almost every holiday and event held by the school the University store has a sale that goes along with it. For example, on Valentines Day they are having a sale buy one item get one item 50% off. These fun weekends that the school has for new and future students help to show the schools culture and what a convenience the school store can be even when busy. 

    Overall, the University store at Bloomsburg can be one of the most resourceful places on campus. If you find yourself in need of a job, it can be a great place for you to work on campus, so you don't have to worry about having to travel far for work. With the University store having everyday essentials like food, water, school supplies, and more it can be so beneficial for students on campus because they do not have to leave campus to get their essentials.