Memorial Union begins renovation project
The on-campus textbook marketplace, located downstairs in the UC Davis Stores bookstore in the Memorial Union, is temporarily moving to the ARC Pavilion. The textbook floor, along with other locations within the Memorial Union, will be renovated beginning next quarter as part of the UC Davis Memorial Union Renewal Project.
The textbook floor has been around since 1966, and although minor renovations have been made since then, both students and UC Davis Stores employees believe it is time for the store to upgrade.
“One of the primary purposes of us doing this renovation is to better serve our students,” said Kato Meley, assistant director of course materials at the textbook store.
Meley said that the student body should expect to see this increased service and enhanced shopping experience by Spring 2016, once the renovations are complete and the textbook store is back at its original location.
The textbook floor will expand to part of the billiards room, and with this new space, project designers hope to establish a more convenient layout for the students to purchase textbooks.
“The layout will be more spacious, it will include modern fixtures, it will be ADA compliant, [and] there will be much more room for needed supplies and school and office [items],” Meley said.
In addition, there will be two new entrances to the textbook floor, making it more accessible for students, as well as a new layout of the textbook shelves, simplifying the ways which students find and purchase textbooks.
“The role of the bookstore has been changing over the past 30 years, so the renovations are more to fit what our service is now,” said Andrew Musca, a fourth-year environmental science major and student lead of course materials at the store.
“[The store will be] more customer friendly in general…. [and it’s] not going to [have] as much workers behind counters; it’s going to be workers out helping students within shelving,” Musca said.
Now that spring quarter is approaching and renovations are underway, the textbook floor has begun moving its shelves, textbooks, registers and some school supplies to the Pavilion. The store will be located at the north second tier of the basketball arena on the second floor where it will have its own area surrounded by fences, where the textbooks, supplies and registers will be.
The buyback location that is currently in the Memorial Union will also be moving and will be located in the ARC lobby.
The relocated textbook store and buyback location will be fully operational by March 23, the beginning of spring break, but students can order their textbooks online prior to this date.
The textbook store has begun to notify students, faculty and staff about the move in a variety of ways.
“We and a couple brand ambassadors around the MU, once the quarter starts, will hand out fliers steering students [towards] the pavilion,” said Cody Thao, a fourth-year political science major and a student lead at the textbook store.
There is a webpage on the renovation project, where people can find more information on the move and information regarding other renovations happening within the Memorial Union. The employees of the textbook floor have displayed signage throughout the store about the move, utilized social media, notified academic departments via email and have stated that there will be additional signs scattered along every other block starting at the textbook floor to the Pavilion with information on the relocation.
Graphic by Jennifer Wu.
