SARAH STOESZ | ASST. NEWS EDITOR
After 15 years, the Butler Bookstore is getting a whole new look.
A two-week remodeling project began Monday morning. The bookstore will remain in operation during the remodeling.
Remodeling is being done on half the store at a time. The first half of the store will be finished this Friday.
Although the bookstore has less than half of its normal space available due to remodeling, it still has the majority of its products on the floor. Employees can retrieve the rest of the products from the basement upon customer request.
The entrances to Campus Club Food Court and the Market Place in Atherton Union connected to the bookstore are closed off because to the remodeling.
Senior Nikki Green said she thinks the reduced number of entrances to these locations may cause problems.
“I think that it will cause an issue with lines going into Atherton and C-Club because people will be going into the same entrances and stuff,” Green said.
Janine Frainier, Butler Bookstore’s manager, said the bookstore has not been remodeled since 1999.
“The space was built for a much smaller student body and not as much clothing or gifts as we currently sell,” she said. “We think that the wall treatments and the fixtures put in will be able to accommodate more product and make it actually easier to shop the product.”
The bookstore needed to be remodeled because of the higher level of student traffic, Green said.
“It needed to be rearranged a bit so there would be more optimal room to walk through,” Green said. “Sometimes it can get a little cramped, so I think it is a good idea that they are doing renovations.”
The bookstore will get new wall treatments, paint, fixtures and carpeting, and it will have more tablets for transactions. Graphics will also be put on the walls that reflect student culture on campus, Frainier said.
Frainier said the remodeling project will hopefully make the bookstore bright, open, and welcoming to students.
“We hope that you all find it easier to shop and that you will like the finished product that we are going to put in here,” she said. “I think that it is going to be fabulous. It is hard to see right now, but it is going to be a whole different look than what was here before.”
