Medications at the Corner Store are less varied than at the Bookstore. Source: http://belaray.com/
The University Bookstore is much more than just a place to get textbooks — it also has the most expansive inventory of gifts, school supplies, toiletries and over-the-counter medications anywhere on campus. Many students’ sudden needs to pick up an item are often ended with a quick stop into the Bookstore.
The problem, though (besides the prices of those items, which is an issue worthy of its own article), is that this relatively large selection of products is contained within a store that has rather limited business hours.
The Bookstore is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It closes an hour earlier than that on Friday, is only open from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and is closed every Sunday. While some of these business hours might not exactly seem restricted, it feels that way because of how many important products are exclusively stocked there.
Compare this to the Corner Store, which is open until 1 a.m. every day. It remains open late to accommodate students’ late night snacking needs, but the Corner Store’s selection of basic non-food products (including medicine and around-the-dorm items) is incredibly limited compared to the Bookstore’s. What about students who desperately need to pick up a certain medicine, or even some soap, but need it sometime after 6 p.m. during the week or anytime on Sundays?
The solution? Either extend the Bookstore’s hours later into the night, or expand the Corner Store’s selection of important, non-food products. Students shouldn’t have to plan a Wegmans run in the middle of a weekday just because 7 p.m. is too late to easily purchase something they need.
If the Bookstore is going to stock so many items that can’t be found anywhere else on campus, it has a responsibility to make those products available during more convenient hours for students.
