By Elizabeth Lehman
As students and visitors come to campus this fall, there is a brand new bookstore on campus for them to visit.
The new Barnes & Noble bookstore opened its doors on the Youngstown State University Campus for the first time on July 17.
YSU student Arianna Cuevas, a sophomore in Early Childhood Education, said she likes the aesthetic of the new building.
“I like how big and spacious it is,” Cuevas said. “I like the coloring, the whiteness. It makes it more bright and lively in here.”
Cuevas said she plans to purchase her textbooks at the new bookstore.
The store sells YSU apparel and school and dorm supplies on the bottom floor; the top floor is devoted to textbooks. There is also a Starbucks cafe in the building which serves coffee, bagels, sandwiches and soups.
The campus Barnes & Noble also welcomes the public. Located on the corner of Fifth and Lincoln Avenues, store manager Heather White said this bookstore is more accessible for the community.
“This makes it more convenient for everyone to show that they’re ‘Y and Proud,’” White said.
Christian J. Roberts, a visitor to the cafe from out of town, is a senior at Hiram College with a double major in communications and sociology. She said this was her second trip to the new bookstore.
“Coming here is very nice for meetings,” Roberts said. “It’s very nice for a meeting spot. You can get coffee and everything like that, and the environment is really nice. I really do like the environment.”
Aside from school textbooks, White said there is reading material at YSU Barnes & Noble for everyone.
“We have a great selection of general reading books for our space,” White said. “In addition to the reference and campus author sections we already carried, we expanded our general reading area to include graphic novels, bestsellers, young adult and other sections.”
To be competitive with other booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble features a price matching program, White said.
“[It] is just the latest example of our commitment to student success, ensuring that students get the best prices available on their course materials by providing price-matching on textbooks advertised or offered from local brick-and-mortar bookstores or online retailers,” White said.
The store is working hard to schedule special events for students and members of the community, she said.
“We’ve had interest in book signings, course meetings, etc.,” White said. “We’re also looking at scheduling students to gain experience performing, as well as local area acts to perform for more exposure.”
Barnes & Noble had a grand opening event on Saturday. Samples were offered to guests throughout the store, a raffle was held and university President Jim Tressel addressed guests.