Barnes & Noble College opened Friday and replaced university-run Station 88 in the Ohio Union.
Credit: Amanda Carberry / Lantern photographer
A new Barnes & Noble College store replaced university-run Station 88 when it opened in the Ohio Union Friday.
The new store is expected to bring in more revenue for OSU than Station 88, said OSU Student Life spokesman Dave Isaacs.
“We believe it probably will be (more profitable) because since we are leasing the space. We don’t, as a university, have the costs associated with operations,” Isaacs said.
The store reopened Friday, after it was closed for part of last week to give Barnes & Noble College time to stock merchandise, Isaacs said, adding the Station 88 signs that are still up around the store will be replaced at a later time.
The employees of Station 88 were offered positions with Barnes & Noble College, Isaacs said.
“We worked very hard to make sure that they were taken care of, that we would work with them to either make the transition to Barnes & Noble College, or if they so choose, to find them employment elsewhere in Student Life,” Isaacs said. “We put a very high priority on student employees and making sure they were taken care of.”
He referred The Lantern to the Barnes & Noble College store for the number of workers who chose to leave. The Barnes & Noble College managers were not able to comment Wednesday.
Some students said they don’t think another campus-area Barnes & Noble is necessary.
“I don’t see a need for a new store with the other location on High Street being so close,” said Michael Burnham, a third-year in physics. “The new store may have a wider selection, but it would not be too different than what is offered at the other store.”
Isaacs said the new Barnes & Noble College store will provide OSU students with new options and benefits.
“There will be an even greater variety of quality apparel and merchandise through this change,” Isaacs said. “Also, students and others will be able to use Barnes and Noble College gift cards at this location as well.”
Other students said they think the store would be helpful if Barnes & Noble College sells textbooks at Ohio Union.
“The other Barnes & Noble store is two streets over, and I don’t really see a need for it,” said Julia Ferrando, a second-year in political science. “If they decided to start selling textbooks at this location, too, then it would be more beneficial to students living on campus because it would be closer.”
Burnham said he does not believe the Union store will receive any dramatic increase in business.
“The location of the store is kind of in a weird, out of the way place,” Burnham said. “It depends on how the store is advertised, but it will probably get the same amount of traffic Station 88 received.”
