U-Store unveils refashioned layout

Every student, freshman to senior, makes the semiannual trek to the University Store soon after he or she arrives on campus. What some freshmen might not have noticed on their way to buy rugs, planners, textbooks and other trappings of student life are changes in the U-Store itself.

The most noticeable change for returning students is the trade books on the first floor where school supplies used to be. These books were relocated from the third floor to the first floor over the summer. School supplies, dorm furnishings and computer supplies have taken their place upstairs. Art supplies remain on the first floor.

"It's nice to have the books . . . visible when you come in the store. It helps to emphasize that we are a bookstore," said Virginia France, marketing director and web administrator of the U-Store. In particular, many alumni and professors missed having the books on the first floor, she said, despite accommodations such as leather chairs and window seats upstairs.

Students will also notice that textbooks, previously kept on the two mezzanines off the second floor, are now on the third floor. The Pequod printing service, home of the ubiqitous Pequod course packet, has been relocated to the third floor from the first.

The upper mezzanine now holds children's clothes and books, while the lower mezzanine holds technical and reference books. The main part of the second floor continues to offer mainly Princeton apparel.

Finally, the U-2 convenience store has expanded into the space formerly occupied by Pequod.

For students, the move consolidates textbooks, Pequod and supplies. "Having all of the student stuff on the third floor makes a lot of sense. It's all right there," France said. The move created new "adjacencies," or pairings of goods and departments, she noted.

Much of the impetus for the moves, four years after the entire store was remodeled during the summer of 2000, came from looking at customer feedback and sales patterns.

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"For many years the books were on the first floor," France said. "When we remodeled and put them on the third floor, we got many requests from customers to change back."

Jim Sykes, president of the U-Store, described how the store's board, which includes three Princeton students, made the decision to rearrange the store in May. Trade books had been on the third floor since 2000, mostly because students purchase them infrequently compared to other goods.

Although non-student customers were unhappy about the situation, "We wanted to make sure we gave plenty of time for customers to get used to having the books on the third floor."

The board thought that an elevator, installed in September 2001, would make the trade books more accessible, "but apparently it didn't," said Sykes.

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The U-Store stopped selling non-Princeton apparel such as Dockers and Nike in the summer of 2002, he said, which opened up space in the mezzanines now occupied by reference materials. The success of the U-2 convenience store on the first floor, open 24 hours a day last year, was also a factor in the decision to rearrange the U-Store.

"Getting Pequod near textbooks was one priority," said Sykes. "The other was getting more space for [the] U-2 [store]."

Students have had mixed reactions so far to the changes at the U-Store. "It's interesting that they're trying to be more of a bookstore," said John Thomas '05. "Isn't that what Micawber's for?"

Two sophomores leaving the textbook section were more ambivalent. "It's kind of a pain having everything on the third floor," said one, "but it's only two floors, and we're from Forbes, so we're used to walking."