The persistent drilling and noise coming from the heart of campus is almost at an end as the new Barnes & Noble College Bookstore opened its doors Monday afternoon, revealing a modern touch to the future of NMU.
“People are pretty happy with the space. It sounds great out there, you know. The music is really cool and it’s just bright. We got those great windows out there and it just looks nice [and] fun,” Store Manager Paul Wright said.
Located in the new university center, the store’s renovation comes just in time for when students have to return their books. With approximately 10,000 rental books circling campus, the opening of the new store is a way to end the semester on a “good note,” allowing for students to interact with the staff and check out the new space, Wright said. Moving the store twice within the past year had its challenges mainly because there was a limited amount of space, forcing the store to operate in West Hall and the Peter White Lounge, Wright said. This was difficult for customers and staff, especially if customers came to one place looking for something that was held in the other location, Wright said, explaining the bouncing back and forth proved inefficient for everyone.
“We knew it was going to be one year of a lot of pain and difficulties and it just took us three days to move into the new store. But we’re pretty happy with the results,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that need to be finished and figured out. [But] it is quite a relief to be done and in our spot, in the Northern Center and ready to help everybody out.”
Though the store’s new location is smaller compared to the previous one, people shouldn’t notice the difference, Wright said. With photograph murals of the Northern Lights and of Marquette-must-see destinations like Presque Isle, the bookstore offers not only a more open atmosphere but a more efficiently run space that serves everybody, Wright added.
The new store will give customers a “more pleasant experience” because before, the old store modeled an “80s shopping center” with pillars near the front cash registers, blocking the view and checkout lines tended to be long, whereas the new store is laid out more efficiently, Wright continued. The old layout was “great” for 1993 but now students will be able to shop in a more timely manner, he said. The online pickup center is more equipped to handle quick and easy transactions compared to having the staff grab the books from the back, he said.
“It really allows the Barnes and Noble at NMU to help serve the students in a better way. That’s what it comes down to. We’re here for the students. We want to make sure they have what they need to be successful at Northern and also to have what they need to be proud of being at Northern,” Wright said, adding, “You know, wearing that clothing and sweatshirts, t-shirts and getting their caps and gowns. Students have a lot of pride in where they’re going to school and they want to be able to show that off. So we’re better able to serve them in that capacity and they’ll come out happier in the end as well.”
Renovation proposals have been in the works since 2006, and this new addition has been a long time coming, Wright noted.
“It’ll be really great when the rest of the renovation is done. It is quite a relief to have our part of it close to being finished. It’ll be really awesome when everything is done and people can see this really new functional space,” Wright said. “One of the things I didn’t think about going into this is how much everybody has to work together to get it done. There’s architects, contractors and then there’s the partnership between Barnes and Noble and Northern Michigan University as well. We all have our parts to play but we all need to work together and do things for each other so it all gets done.”
